Legal Question in Family Law in Ohio

I have had full custody of my twin sons since May of 2011. For over a year now his contact & visitations with the boys have been very inconsistant. His visitation schedule is: He is allowed to see them 1ce a month & even # year holidays. In the past 19 month he has only seen his boys 7 times! I really feel for them. He doesn't work. When he does it is only Temp jobs & works them long enough to collect disability then quits. I rarely see any child support. He lives in Alabama & The boys & I live in Ohio. He left me Feb 11, 2011 for another woman plus took my boys with him while I was asleep. I awoke to an E-mail from him stating he left me & took our boys going West. Went to court got a temp custody order. It took me a month to track him down in Alabama where he took my boys to live with his GF that he met online while still with me. He never met her in person, just talked on phone & online. He takes our kids to Alabama to live with a stranger they never met including himself. Thats why the judge was hard on him with custody & visitation. His visitations were court ordered to to Supervised by his Mom & step dad of all people, who never really supervise him but anyway the problem is we just recently made arrangements for Visitation for Christmas. It is his usual, he just comes up to Ohio for the weekend to his Mom's. His mother & I meet halfway which is an over 2 hour drive me, 45 minutes for her. Anyway this is what we agreed on & arranged. Now I get a E-mail yesterday, no call, tell me that he has changed his mind & now wants them for the entire Christmas break when the boys, my family & I have already made plans on his original agreed upon visitation. He never call & discusses details with me EVER, just e-mails me. Do I have to let them go when I have already made plans with them. What would happen to me if I violated the court order & not let them go? He can still take them this coming up weekend or any weekend this month if he wants, just not Christmas cause we had already made plan based on his original agreement. Please any advice is much appreciated. Besides he never took them for more then the weekend & I'm scared he might try something & take them like he did in the beginning. Sorry so long. Thanks


Asked on 12/13/12, 8:48 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Eric Willison Eric Eastman Willison

In Ohio, you should follow the court order to the letter. If he keeps the kids longer than he should have, then you should file a motion for him to show cause why he should not be held in contempt of court. If you win, the Court can fine him or sentence him to jail or could modify the visitation schedule in order to make sure that this will not happen again. In order to show your damages, you should keep careful records of any expenses you incur in having to cancel or change vacation plans (perhaps you lost vacation time, or incurred a "change fee" with an airline or hotel, etc).

Also, if you win, your attorney can also ask the court for attorneys fees and the Court has the discretion to require that he pay those. If he does not pay, then you can file for contempt again and the Court can sentence him to time in jail starting at a point in the near future unless he pays the fees before that date. This usually gives the contemnor a pretty good incentive to pay.

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Answered on 12/13/12, 11:34 am


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