Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois

Re: Violation of Visitation Rights

She is not yet in contempt of court. It is a similar idea to innocent until proven guilty. Everybody knows she did it, but she gets her say in court.

To have her held in contempt, you need to file papers with the court. The proper papers are what is called a "Petition for Rule to Show Cause." Such a petition says basically, that there is a valid court order in effect, and that she is in violation of the order. I am certain your local law library would have a form book to help you out. The law library is often located in the county courthouse. The hard part is, you or your attorney have to appear before the judge to present the petition, or the judge will think you worked out the problem, and he will dismiss it.

If you feel you cannot present the Petition on your own, you should contact an attorney. Because she is in contempt of court, the court may award you attorney fees, which means she would have to pay your attorney to bring the action.

If you and the attorney get lucky, you would never have to testify, and thus never have to come to court. The attorney could do it without you.

Good luck.

Larry

773.588.6325

Re: Violation of Visitation Rights

You must get back into court to enforce the decree - this involves the Petition for Rule to Show Cause - this means your wife must come into court and explain why she is violating the decree. You will either need to go to court for yourself or get an attorney to represent you. You may win attorneys fees.

Re: Violation of Visitation Rights

I see your question has already been answered by two other lawyers. I concur with their judgment that a �Petition for Rule to Show Cause� is one answer. However, there also exists an Illinois statute (see below) specifically designed to deal with this type of circumstance. Either way (rule to show cause, or statutory claim), the only way to enforce your rights to visitation is to file a petition in the Illinois court. Your petition may be based upon both contempt and statutory rights.

Illinois law (750 ILCS 5/607.1) provides in pertinent part:

�Enforcement of visitation orders; visitation abuse. (a) The circuit court shall provide an expedited procedure for enforcement of court ordered visitation in cases of visitation abuse. Visitation abuse occurs when a party has willfully and without justification: (1) denied another party visitation as set forth by the court; or (2) exercised his or her visitation rights in a manner that is harmful to the child or child's custodian.

(b) An Action may be commenced by filing a petition setting forth: (i) the petitioner's name, residence address or mailing address, and telephone number; (ii) respondent's name and place of residence, place of employment, or mailing address; (iii) the nature of the visitation abuse, giving dates and other relevant information; (iv) that a reasonable attempt was made to resolve the dispute; and (v) the relief sought. Notice of the filing of the petitions shall be given as provided in Section 511 [750 ILCS 5/511].

(c) After hearing all of the evidence, the court may order one or more of the following:

(1) Modification of the visitation order to specifically outline periods of visitation or restrict visitation as provided by law.

(2) Supervised visitation with a third party or public agency.

(3) Make up visitation of the same time period, such as weekend for weekend, holiday for holiday.

(4) Counseling or mediation, . . .

* * *

(d) Nothing contained in this Section shall be construed to limit the court's contempt power, except as provided in subsection (g) of this Section.

(e) When the court issues an order holding a party in contempt of court for violation of a visitation order, the clerk shall transmit a copy of the contempt order to the sheriff of the county. The sheriff shall furnish a copy of each contempt order to the Department of State Police on a daily basis in the form and manner required by the Department. The Department shall maintain a complete record and index of the contempt orders and make this data available to all local law enforcement agencies.

(f) Attorney fees and costs shall be assessed against a party if the court finds that the enforcement action is vexatious and constitutes harassment. . . .�

Don�t give up. Your son needs contact with a loving, conscientious father.