Legal Question in Family Law in New Jersey
Visitation Problems
My husband's ex-wife has since they separated has been uncooperative in terms of visitation of his now six year old son- there is a signed visitation order in the New Jersey courts that specifically states that the six year old is to come for visitation from the evening of his last day of school until the evening of the day prior to his return to school. She has told my husband that the court will not make her take off work to get him to the airport and she will not compromise on the airport or the times- the last flight from the only airport she will go to is 5:00pm- meaning she would have to leave work early once every three months- this is for the long weekends- my husband has even gone as far as to have visitation on the next day when there is a vacation of a week or more- what legal recourse do we have in order for her to abide by the visitation agreement- he is supposed to come in October and she will not take him nor will she have any other member of her family who lives there bring him to the airport
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Visitation Problems
My colleague from North Jersey, Kelly Berton, gave a very good and well reasoned answer. The only thing that I would add is that it may be very difficult for you, as an out of state person, to do all of this. Since it seems that this may be an ongoing problem, you may want to retain an attorney to get this problem before the Courts and hopefully solved once and for all. If the original matter was in front of a North Jersey court, I would suggest that you contact Kelly Berton. If this, however, is a South Jersey matter, feel free to contact me at 856-546-8010.
Re: Visitation Problems
You may enforce provisions of a court-ordered visitation agreement. A "Motion to Enforce Litigant's Rights" must be filed with the court. A motion consists of 3 parts: Notice of Motion, Proposed Form of Order and Certification in Support of Motion. The Notice of Motion sets forth the hearing date and the purpose of the motion. The Order sets forth the relief you are requesting - in your case, to force the mother of the child to abide by the agreement and cooperate in visitation scheduling. The Certification is a sworn statement that gives the facts of the case - the relationship of the parties, the provisions of the agreement, how it is being violated, etc. You must also attach a copy of the agreement you are seeking to enforce. You can find copies of these forms in a law library. You may file them pro se (without an attorney) or an attorney can file them for you. If I can be of further assistance, please call my office at (201) 641-1605. Good luck.
Re: Visitation Problems
Not to disagree with anything in the responses from Kelly Berton or Robert Gleaner, but as I understand the question, the child IS being sent for visitation, but not the afternoon you would like and the flight the child makes is perhaps the next day... and that is your entire gripe.
Is that REALLY something you want to go to court over and spend a great deal of money fighting about?
If the child is there all summer, does one day make that much difference?
The word "petty" for some reason springs to mind....