Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts
Visitation agreement
divorce is final. agreement specified four weeks per year where i have my daughter and allowed for ''reasonable visitation'' throughout the year. thought we could just work out a reasonable schedule as ex wife seemed reasonable at the time. i havent done anything bad to my wife or daughter. paid my support a year in advance out of the settlement so it is not about that. my daughter is 14 and have been very considerate of her need for time with friends and extracurricular activities however, now my wife says that my daughter does not want to spend the agreed 4 weeks of vacation time with me and that she doesn't have to since we don't have a ''court order''. She says she spoke to her divorce lawyer about it and he told her my daughter doesn't have to spend time with me if she doesn't want to. So, if the terms of our signed divorce agreement dont count and I would like to see my daughter on a more regular basis since ''reasonable visitation'' isnt very reasonable. What can I do?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Visitation agreement
File a complaint for modification
and request that the court define
(with specificity) "reasonable visitation" or, if she is not following the divorce judgment, file a complaint for contempt and have the court enforce your "4-week" visitation and more importantly, to clarify what "reasonable" encompasses.
Also, I highly doubt that your ex-wife's attorney advised her client to break the law by disregarding the court's judgment(I believe your ex-wife is a liar at best).
In addition, although the courts consider a child's voice, they do not leave the decision of visitation up to them, because children do not have the knowledge or capability to know what is best for them. In addition, the courts do not tolerate parental alienation, which could be what's going on in your case.
Sincerely, Maria Murber
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