Legal Question in Family Law in California
Current court papers state that when father has to work he is suppose to give mother 48 hr notice of this and his visitation is suppose to be rescheduled. If the mother has plans it will be rescheduled at a later date. The issue here is that father works 48 hour shifts. He is a paramedic and has no control of his work schedule. His work schedule is set on a calender for the entire 2011 year. Mother has been given this calender but refuses to give him any makeup visitations. His scheduled days to have his daughter are tues/wed/thurs every week. The way his work schedule goes, he'll work 2 days then he's off for 4 days and again he'll work 2 days then off 4 and so on. So w/ this schedule he can no longer be w/ his daughter on his court appointed days 100% of the time.Some weeks he'll have her all 3 days and other weeks he'll only have her 1 day. In a situation like this, is mother suppose to honor the makeup visitation? Or is father responsible to find child care for his child outside of the mother watching her? So far I(stepmother) have been the one who takes care of the daughter when father has to work, but in the last couple years his daughter has developed many behavioral issues that I can no longer handle by myself and this has been told to the mother as well. Visitation has been much better between daughter and I(step mom) when father is at home because he can handle her behavioral issues. We asked mother about 7 months ago to have daughter while father is at work and to have his days rescheduled(because of work) so he can spend time with his daughter. Mother went along with having daughter up until now(mar 1st), but not necessarily the makeup days. Mother has been unwilling to change the visitation schedule so daughter can be with father on his days off. Mother says father is responsible for child care while he's away at work and that I(step mom) am responsible to get daughter to school (in another city) and care for daughter when father is working. Is this true? Bottom line, isn't it more important for the daughter to be spending time with biological father or mother, when available, instead of a step parent only or babysitter?
2 Answers from Attorneys
If the ex won't cooperate, the only option is to file a motion to modify the custody orders to conform to the dad's work situation, so that his custodial time will match his time off.
I would also advise that the parents participate in co-parenting counseling to improve their communication in order to avoid bickering and future court battles.
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