Visitation

[Bedavi22]

What is the name of your state? Colorado

My husband has custody of his daughter from his previous marriage. She used to visit her mother regularly on every other holiday and some spring breaks and also every summer for the ENTIRE summer. Starting 2 years ago his ex wife decided to start picking up his daughter earlier than the arranged times bringing her home up to a week later than the arranged times, taking her out of the state without consulting her father, even taking her out of the country without consulting him. My husband began shortenging her visitation to only 3 weeks this last summer and now after finding out she left the country with their daughter, he denied her visitation for Christmas. His ex wife is very irrate as you can imagine and has left messages threatening that he had better brace himself. She is also in arrears on child support by almost 6 years and she thinks that is why the visits are becoming shorter. There are other issues, such has mental stability of the ex wife (she was diagnosed bi polar and does not take medication) but I was supposed to keep this short.

I read somewhere that if visits were withheld because of lack of child support that something called "frustration of visitation" could cause him to lose custody. Could he be in danger of this happening even though the visits were cut short for reasons other than child support?

The ex wife lives in AZ. thats where the divorce was ordered, and the visitation order just states "reasonable" visitation.
Is he being unreasonable?

Thank you for your time

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

What is the name of your state? Colorado

My husband has custody of his daughter from his previous marriage. She used to visit her mother regularly on every other holiday and some spring breaks and also every summer for the ENTIRE summer. Starting 2 years ago his ex wife decided to start picking up his daughter earlier than the arranged times bringing her home up to a week later than the arranged times, taking her out of the state without consulting her father, even taking her out of the country without consulting him. My husband began shortenging her visitation to only 3 weeks this last summer and now after finding out she left the country with their daughter, he denied her visitation for Christmas. His ex wife is very irrate as you can imagine and has left messages threatening that he had better brace himself. She is also in arrears on child support by almost 6 years and she thinks that is why the visits are becoming shorter. There are other issues, such has mental stability of the ex wife (she was diagnosed bi polar and does not take medication) but I was supposed to keep this short.

I read somewhere that if visits were withheld because of lack of child support that something called "frustration of visitation" could cause him to lose custody. Could he be in danger of this happening even though the visits were cut short for reasons other than child support?

The ex wife lives in AZ. thats where the divorce was ordered, and the visitation order just states "reasonable" visitation.
Is he being unreasonable?

Thank you for your time

My response:

You're correct. Your husband is "frustrating visitation". If he has a problem with child support, then he must tackle that issue with the court. But, what he's doing is using 'self help" in the only way he knows, and in the easiest way he knows, and that's by limiting her visitation.

There's nothing in your custody/visitation orders that disallows her from taking her child anywhere in the world that she wants, while she's the custodial parent; i.e., on her visitation time.

Why it makes any difference to him, is anyone's guess. But, in the end, she's right, and your husband is going to suffer with contempt of court charges.

Remember, the definition of "reasonable" IS NOT his "definition" and if he forces the issue, the court will further define it for him, in a manner that he may not like.

Tell your husband to "cool his jets" or the crap is going to hit the fan.

IAAL