Legal Question in Family Law in North Carolina

My daughter father is currently in Iraq working on a contract position for one year.....before he left he got a court order to place himself on child support and to place our daughter on his health insurance. I was also required to agree to allow my daughter to spend every second weekend of the month with his family and two weeks with his family for the entire duration of his overseas employment stay. His family is not the easiest to get along with....they constantly want me to change thing from the way that they are in the court order agreement...they want to change their time with her to the third weekend of the month then they want to change it to the fourth. They even want me to change the place where we are suppose to meet to exchange her. They get mad at me when I call and check on her while she is with them. They say things like "what you dont trust us." To make a long story short he is currently behind on the child support by $1900.00, but the state will not allow me to filed contempt papers until he is at least $2400.00 behind. He has also failed to add our daughter to his health insurance in which he was court ordered to do so. I feel that because he is not following the order I should temporarily cancel the visitation with his family....until he catches up with the support and places her on his insurance. Am I allowed to do so?


Asked on 6/12/10, 11:55 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Rachel Hunter

No. Visitation and child support are two entirely different things. If he is behind on support or did not add the daughter to the health insurance, then file a contempt petition when he gets back from Iraq. Regarding visits with the father's family,why are you so inflexible? Just because it is written that way in the order does not mean exceptions cannot be made here and there. Things do come up and people should not have to run back to court in order to get them resolved.

You do not mention your daughter's age. I really suggest that you sit down with his parents and try to talk things over. Calls over there will depend on your daughter's age and may or may not be appropriate. They also have to be reasonable - you should not call every day. If the father's parents are changing things too much, you might explain to them that it is not convenient for you and see what can be done. If their comments are hurtful, let them know that too.

You must have had an attorney when you drafted the agreement. If things cannot be worked out amicably, then consult with the attorney.

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Answered on 6/14/10, 7:09 am


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