The contempt hearing is on both of us. Her for denying visits. And me for not being in therapy. Which I am back in services now. I don't know if the court will care. Too little too late, ya know?
I offered to do all of the transportation because she was already no showing for scheduled visits at the family center and I just wanted to see my kid.
We had supervised visits for 4 visits because it had been over a year since I saw my son. (Due to my ex no showing, objecting, and court hearings being so stretched out.)
I also created the distance. I met with my case worker for FOC and told him my plans to move. I asked if I needed permission from the court. He said no. And asked if I wanted to period the court to change our plan to a long distance plan and ask for shared transportation. I said no. I can afford the travel. But it seems like such a waste when I'm going up there and returning empty handed.
Who filed contempt first? If you were in contempt for not following through with the therapy and then mom stopped visits, you may get nowhere with your contempt. While mom is suppose to also follow the court order, there are a few circumstances in Mi where the court will hear why one denies visitation and allow it.
You moved, you created the distance and its pretty much standard that the court will make you do all the transportation. Do you have joint legal custody? Because if you did when you moved, then FOC told you crap. In Mi when an order has joint legal custody, the child has 2 home addresses, and both parents must get the others permission to move or the courts. I would stop listening to FOC, they are not suppose to give out legal advice, they are there to enforce the written order, hear motions, make recommendations. They can't give out legal advice, they can't make orders, they can only make recommendations when one motions the court. Those recommendations can be objected to by either party, and then the motion will be heard by the Judge assigned to the case. Often Judges go against the recommendations made by FOC or Refs. If your going to keep calling FOC then I advise you to see if your county has what they call a parenting time coordinator(might have a different name)in their FOC office, this persons job is to help NCP's with issues, they are much more likely to help you and give you correct information then any of the caseworkers.
You need to go get your kid, if mom is not there with the kid, then you call the police and get a police report, it will also be helpful if you stopped at a nearby store to the pick up spot and purchase something, saving the receipt. You save up a couple of these no shows, file contempt and attach the police reports and/or receipts showing you were there and she was not. You do not need to go through FOC, added step, that takes more time, however it's free to go through them to enforce the order. You can file directly with the Circuit Court of the county your case is in, however you will pay a filing fee. The fees can be found on your Circuit Court website or by calling the Circuit Courts Clerk's office. They vary between counties and between different motions, usually ranging between $40 and $100.
It's far faster to file directly with Circuit Court then FOC, and you skip the added step of FOC, you get a hearing with a Ref. If you go through FOC they will first contact the other parent with the allegations, then they will decide if your complaint has merit, if so then can do 2 things. Make a decision or hold a hearing. Either way they do it, both parties have the right to object and go before a Ref or Judge. Depends on the court sometimes you skip the Ref, sometimes not. Either way it does take time, how much just depends on what county your in, mine is very fast, you can get a hearing in a week, others take a couple of months. There are few that take longer then 4 months to get a hearing in Mi. Some FOC's are faster then others, mine is fast, but still slow compared to just filing directly with the Circuit Court.
That's how you do it when your dealing with a parent who is denying you time. You follow the order, you show for pick ups and if they don't show you get proof that you were there and they were not and then you file contempt. If you follow this, eventually the court will do more then hand slap mom if she continues to deny you your time.
