Legal Question in Family Law in California

My child's father moved about 115 miles away about a year ago, when he first told me he was moving we agreed that we would try to work out a visitation plan without having to go back to court. Prior to moving he had alternating weekends fri-mon, thursday 4p-7p, alternate weeks during the summer vacation and alternating holidays. Since he moved her gets alternate weekends fri-sun and every other week during summer vacation and some holidays, his wife picks our daughter up on his weekends since she already commutes to work from where they live which is about 20 minutes from where I live so its really not a big burden on them to pick her up. I on the other hand I drive the hour and half to pick her up from his house which is starting to be a big burden financially as well as taking time away from my family. Also, last summer he had our child every other week.

It is now becoming somewhat problematic since our child is in extra cirricular activites or when other things come up she might want to and she is not able to attend as she is with her father and he no longer lives here. My main concern is if I file for a modification that he will request that he have her the whole summer and request any vacations that she may have. This would not only be devistating to me because I have never been away from our child that long, but it too would be devistating to our daughter; as it is she does not prefer to go to her father home as it is. Does anyone have any input/advise?? What does a Judge/Mediator normally recommend in these cases?

Also, when our child is visiting her father he is usually always gone and does not spend anytime with our child and leaves her with his step-daughter (14 yr old) and two young children all the time. Our daughter does like this...my point of view is that if he has plans to not spend time with her why even pick her up. But he has always been this way sometimes I think he does it just to say he has her but doesn't really want to spend the time with her.


Asked on 3/22/12, 2:59 pm

2 Answer from Attorneys
Arlene Kock Law Offices of Arlene D. Kock APLC

Assuming your case is situated in a recommending jurisdiction, the mediator would make a recommendation based on the child's best interests. You may want to consider investing in private co parenting counseling to sort out these issues in an effort to reach a stipulation.

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Answered on 3/22/12, 3:14 pm


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