Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: visitation

While you have a legal right to see your son, unfortunately he's reached an age where the child, as a practical matter, has a lot of input into the visitation schedule. Teenagers tend to have a lot of activities (good or bad) and want to spend time with their contemporaries instead of their parents. You need to try and reestablish communication with your son and try to get him to join you in activities that you both might enjoy. Admittedly, not an easy task. Good luck!

Re: visitation

Even though visitation is ordered by the court and the courts consider it to be important that children maintain a relation with both parents except where one parent is totally unfit, it is generally the attitude of the courts that they can't effectively compel a fifteen year old to visit a parent he doesn't want to see. Of course everyone knows that it's difficult to require any sort of reasonable behavior from most fifteen year olds, and everyone also knows that it is extremely important that somebody take on the difficult responsibility of preventing fifteen year olds from ruining their lives and those of everyone around them by doing whatever they want. The key word here is "responsibility." You, as a parent, and your former wife, have a responsibility to insist on certain kinds of behavior even when your son seems to think you are the worst kind of monster for telling him what to do. If your son's mother allows him to "run wild" and not go to school, she may be neglecting a responsibility. Isn't school required for fifteen year olds? If you care enough, you can return to court to enforce the visitation order. The judge's first reaction will probably be that he can't enforce visitation for a child that age. Your job then will be to point out to the judge that your former wife is in contempt of a court order if she does not enforce visitation, and that this is a harmful example for your son. Argue to the judge that you are concerned about your son, who needs to have some rules and some good examples. You might suggest that allowing a fifteen year old to demonstrate contempt of a court order will only encourage him to continue as an adult to hold the law, and orders of the court, in contempt. You will also need to take some steps to improve your relationship with your son and to make him understand that you can be reasonable and flexible when it makes sense, even though you continue to insist on certain (reasonable, I hope) rules. But you can't improve your relationship, or have any positive impact on your son, if you don't have contact with him. Good luck.