Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois
My daughter is 11. I have every other weekend visitation. It is 50 miles one way from my work/home to pick up my daughter from school, which is 1.5 hours in rush hour traffic and another 50 miles/1.5 hours in rush hour traffic to get my daughter home to my house after I pick her up after school every other Friday. Her mother then picks her up Sundays.
Recently, there have been many things going on in my daughters life such as baby showers, wedding showers, family parties, etc. all on my ex's side. Most of these activities are on Saturdays. I feel my daughter should get to go to some, but not all of these activities because it is still important she see me.
My ex says I'm "emotionally abusing" my daughter by saying I think my daughter should come over on my weekend and my ex doesn't understand that I think it makes no sense to drive 3 hours on a Friday to get my daughter to my house, only for my ex to come pick her up the next morning to go to these activities. Now the whole trick-or-treating is an issue because my weekend falls on Halloween. My ex even had plans for my daughter on FATHERS DAY! She dropped her off at 9pm the night before and informed me I needed to bring her back by 11:30am the next day because her family was having a brunch!
The whole extracurricular activity thing is an issue too..my daughter plays basketball. Can I be forced to pick her up Friday, which is 3 hours round trip and then drive another hour/50 miles the next day to get to her game and another hour/50 miles to get her back to my house from her game?
Also, my ex wants me to pick my daughter up from school by 6pm 2x a week, which I have said is totally unreasonable; it's in the divorce papers, but that's because I lived a lot closer then. I think it is horrible for my daughter to have to drive around with me on a school night or sit in some restaurant at the mall to hang out with me for an hour or so when she has homework, etc. to do. I have nowhere more suitable to take her because I live 50 miles away.
Every weekend it's an argument....I don't know what to do.
Thanks.
1 Answer from Attorneys
I'm thinking that it is time to call the lawyers and take the visitation issues back into court. You're wife can insist all she likes on these various demands but the law is not in her favor. She cannot demand that you exercise visitation just because it is in the court order. OTOH, she cannot deny you scheduled visitation that is contained in the order. The problem is that your daughter is being torn in both directions.
Let me guess that you have just gotten married again or had another child and its payback time.
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