Legal Question in Family Law in Oregon
Emails as written notification. Are they legal?
I have soul custody of my daugther with an established parenting plan. Father is to have daugther 2-3 week visits in the summer. We were told once before by a judge to follow the parenting plan to a T. Under the current plan it says ''FATHER shall notify the Mother in writing of when he wants his summer visits.'' Well Father now says he notified me by email which he claims I received on May 1st. He is now saying that emails are legally acceptable means of notification. And it is not my choice to decide what is acceptable. First off it says in writing before May 1st, not by email on May 1st. Secondly, he doesn't have my email address, I changed it in January. Thirdly, before January when he did send me emails he used his stepfathers email address. So my question is are emails legally acceptable when it says in writing? Especially if he sends them using an email address that does not belong to him. Although I have told him it is a pretty moot point because I never recieved any email. He insists on fighting about this. All I want to do is what the judge instructed. And thats follow the order to a T.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Emails as written notification. Are they legal?
Stop behaving like a child and start being a parent. Visitation is for the benefit of the child, not the parent. It is the CHILD who has right to maintain a relationship with both parents.
Your attempt to trample on your child's right to visit with father, supposedly based on your claim of some compelling need to hypertechnically follow the notification requirements "to the T" is a cop-out. Try being reasonable for a change. Were I sitting as a judge, I would conclude that you actions are NOT in good faith and amount to an unreasonable if not intentional course of conduct intended to interfere with the child's rights.
That fact that father may not have complied with the letter of the law by failing to give you the written notice does not mean that you may not nonetheless allow the summer visitation to go foward. And, indeed, that is precisely what you should do.
Grow up and be reasonable. Your child will have more respect for you for doing so.
L.D. Gorin
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