There may be a plethora of reasons, personal or otherwise, as to why you do not want to send your child to spend time with your former spouse. However, going against your court-ordered visitation can become a great disservice to you. Read on to discover why you should not refuse to send your child to court-ordered visitation and how a seasoned Sparta NJ child visitation attorney at Paris P. Eliades Esq. can help you understand this.
How do custody rights work with visitation rights?
In your divorce proceedings, the New Jersey family court may have deemed your former spouse as an unfit parent. With that, they may have granted you sole legal custody over your child and your former spouse with very limited rights.
However, it is important to note that just because you were awarded sole legal custody does not mean that your former spouse cannot be awarded some form of visitation rights. This is regardless of whether the visits are supervised or unsupervised. This is because the New Jersey family courts typically believe that it is in the child’s best interest to maintain a close, healthy relationship with both of their parents.
What happens if I refuse to send my child to court-ordered visitation?
If your former spouse wants to fight for visitation rights, they will have to draft and file a petition with the New Jersey family court. If the court approves, then it will pass down an order that is to be followed by all parties involved.
And so, if you refuse to send your child to their visitation with your former spouse, you will be in direct violation of the court’s orders. With this, your former spouse may bring this action to the court’s attention, and from there, they may decide to adjust your custody rights. Ultimately, you will be threatening the custody rights over your child that you worked so hard to earn.
What happens if I do not agree with my court-ordered visitation?
Understandably, you may not want to send your child to their visitation for legitimate reasons, like if you believe your former spouse will pose a danger. In emergency circumstances such as these, you should first contact law enforcement and child support services.
From here, you may want to file a post-judgment modification to better protect your child’s best interest. In your petition, you must prove that your former spouse is unfit to visit your child for any of the following reasons:
- Your former spouse has been physically, verbally, or sexually abusive toward your child.
- Your former spouse has been abusing drugs or alcohol.
- Your former spouse has abducted or kidnapped your child in the past.
Rest assured, we have your child’s best interest in mind, and we will do everything in our power to keep them safe. So, if you require assistance, contact a competent Sparta, NJ children and parenting issues attorney today.
