Partner
When a parent works to establish a parenting plan, the objective is to develop a schedule that he or she can live up to. Over time, however, the terms of the plan (and the court order enforcing it) could become obsolete. Due to work or other obligations, a parent may start missing too many visits. Can that parent lose custody or visitation rights as a result? Whichever side of the custody arrangement you are on, it’s imperative that you understand your rights and the law. LaFountain & Wollman P.C. take a look at this issue.
The Other Parent Cannot Deny Your Visits
It’s important to emphasize that regardless of how many visits you have missed, the other parent cannot unilaterally decide to start denying you parenting time that is guaranteed by the court order. The order still stands until it is changed by the judge or a new parenting plan (approved by the court) is worked out between the parents. So if you get to the point where you can resume exercising your rights under the court order, the other parent needs to respect that. If he or she fails to do so you have the right to file for contempt.
The Other Parent Can Ask the Court to Change the Order
Although the parent cannot change the order on their own, he or she can file a petition to modify the previous order based on missed visitations. This likely will not succeed if a parent sporadically misses visits or has only missed a handful of them over an extended period of time. That’s because in Massachusetts, a parent wishing to modify a prior family court order must demonstrate that there has been a material change of circumstances since it was entered, and that changing the prior order is in the child’s best interests. It is not unusual for a parent to miss visits here and there, so a few isolated incidents are probably not enough to warrant a modification.
What might support a modification is consistent and repeated incidents of a parent failing to show up for visits. The custodial parent might be able to put forth a variety of arguments for why such a pattern should convince the judge to modify the parenting schedule. For example, the parent could argue that the missed visits are:
- Causing a substantial inconvenience to the custodial parent
- Forcing the custodial parent to pay more money for child care
- Confusing the child (especially a young one) and are therefore detrimental to the child’s best interests
- Making it difficult for the custodial parent to work and provide for the child
Courts would, in general, rather see children spend more time with their parents instead of caregivers. So if a parent is missing visits, the judge may decide to alter the schedule and allow the custodial parent to plan to have that extra time instead of compelling him or her to get a babysitter at the last minute.
It should also be noted that if the parent requesting the custody modification ends up with more parenting time (namely, the time that the other parent wasn’t using to visit the child), he or she might also ask for more child support.
What To Do If You Are Having Trouble Making Visits
Missed visits happen, because life is complicated. Work schedules change, parents get sick, and emergencies arise. If you know you are going to miss a visit, it’s important to communicate that fact to the other parent as soon as you know about it. Apologize for the inconvenience, offer to make up for any daycare expense the other parent incurs, and try to negotiate a make-up visitation date. The fact that you took such measures will certainly look better in court versus just failing to show up without any advance notice.
If you are having consistent issues making visits work, you might need to formally change the current order by moving to modify. You and the other parent can also negotiate a new schedule and ask the judge to approve it. The good news is that circumstances can always change again, so even if a modification happens that you don’t like, you could ask for your own modification once your schedule becomes more predictable.
Helping You With Massachusetts Custody Matters
Do you have questions about missed visits and what they mean for your custody order? Connect with the experienced family law team at LaFountain & Wollman P.C. Schedule your consultation with us today.