Legal Question in Family Law in California

General rule of thumb is that parents tell children what the children should do. It should not be the children telling the parents. If you do not send the kids, then YOU could be found in contempt of court.

If there are psychological or abuse issues to address, I urge you to take the children to a child therapist to sort out what is going on.

You are legally responsible for making sure the children follow the order, and you can be fined or even jailed if you don't. The only way to change things is to file a motion to change the custody order. In a motion hearing, the 17 and 16 year-olds have a new statutory right to tell the court what they want, and the court must hear them out. After that, however, the court still decides what it thinks is best for the children. The children's opinion is just one thing the court considers in making that decision, and there are a LOT of factors that go against letting the children decide to only have contact with one parent.