Legal Question in Family Law in California

If your court order provides for phone or other contact when you have the children, then you must abide by that order or return to court to modify the order. Wether or not there are orders for this contact may not be as important as addressing the problem you stated about the children being upset when the parent does contact them. I would urge you to consider family counseling to sort this out or, if the other is unwilling to participate in therapy, a return to court to address this problem.