Legal Question in Family Law in Florida
Custody in FL
My childs father says he will keep our son 2 extra days. He says he will do this because my holiday took one of his weekends. He plans on doing this on his 8 day vacation time. Our child is 3 yrs old and we have a custody agreement.The custody order says he gets him from Friday to Friday.Can he do this against my wishes. If not what can I do. This is a problem to me because our son is so young and he starts getting really insecure and upset after several days. His father will not let him call me or me call him while he is in his care.The FL custody says he is supposed to call me.Thanks for any help with my concerns.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Custody in FL
Well, it sounds like you both violated the court order, so be careful. But he cannot take his time "back" without a court order. You two seem to have a very bad relationship, so you should not depart from the custody order unless you get his agreement in writing (or at least e-mail).
With regard to the extra days, you can't do anything until he actually does it. And then all you can do is take it back to court, in the form of an enforcement or contempt motion. So he'll ge the two estra days -- you really can't stop that, but then he'll get reprimanded and maybe sanctioned (a fine) by the court. What you could go to court immediately about is the fact that he will not allow you to speak to the child while in his care. This really seems even worse to me because it is an ongoing problem and very detrimental to your son -- the two extra days might not be such a big deal if the child could speak to you. If you do that quickly, tell the judge about the threat of taking extra days so that the judge will warn him not to do it. If he gave you permission during your holiday, say so because you also violated the custody order so you won't look much better than he does on that issue. Good luck.