Until a court order on custody and/or visitation has been made, a father and a mother have equal rights with regard to their children. This situation can be confusing. Frequently, one of the first things to be resolved in the dissolution of a marriage is the custody and/or visitation arrangement pending the final hearing of divorce. It may become necessary to obtain a temporary order regarding custody and visitation, and this should be discussed with your attorney.

Once a court order has been entered, you may take legal steps to enforce the visitation privileges awarded you. To do so, you must file a petition for contempt requesting that the custodial parent be held in contempt of court for not allowing you visitation with the children as ordered. This customarily should be done in the court that granted your divorce. If the custodial parent is found in contempt by the court, then he or she may be ordered to abide by the court order and allow visitation as ordered. In an aggravated situation, the court is authorized to punish the custodial parent for contempt of court by requiring payment of a fine or, possibly, incarceration.

To have the custodial parent found in contempt, you must show that the parent has knowledge of the order of visitation and knowingly refused visitation to you. If the custodial parent can show that reasonable efforts were made to comply with visitation, then the parent may be found not to be in contempt.

If the final decree does not prohibit the custodial parent from removing the children from the state where the court having jurisdiction over the divorce matter is located, the custodial parent may move along with the children to another state as long as the move is not motivated solely by vindictiveness or other inappropriate reason on the part of the custodial parent. The custodial parent is obligated to file a petition with the court requesting a modification of the previous visitation arrangement. In responding to this petition, the non-custodial parent may attempt to contest the move if the non-custodial parent can show that the move is occurring out of vindictiveness or solely to defeat the non-custodial parent's visitation rights. If the court has ordered that the children not be removed from the state, you may enforce the court order by filing a petition for contempt requesting relief from the court.

Both the petition for contempt and the petition to modify usually require the help of an attorney. Generally, you will be held responsible for your own attorney fees and expenses, although in some instances, the court orders the other parent to pay all of the attorney fees and expenses.

Don't forget that sometimes there are very legitimate reasons why visitation is denied on a specific occasion. Bringing a contempt action can bring back emotional tension from the past on the part of not only the parents involved, but also on the part of the children.

Try to be as objective as you can before pursuing any legal remedies for denial of visitation.

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