Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
My husband and I live in Washington State. His daughter and her mother live in Texas (they moved before he had a parenting plan a few years ago so she did not get in trouble). He now has a parenting plan, in Texas as it was too late to file in WA, that allows for nightly phone calls with a 24hr call back and extended time over Christmas breaks & summer, he flies down to collect his daughter so she can visit all of us in Washington. The mother frequently refuses to follow the plan and has denied both visitation and phone calls. We would like to file for contempt of court but don't know how with the fact that flying to Texas frequently for court is expensive/time consuming.
Over Christmas he flew down and was at the airport ready for his scheduled time. The mother did not show up or call. He called the police but was told that they don't handle domestic issues. He had to wait 4 days in a hotel until mom finally agreed to bring the daughter only AFTER he sent her copies of all the plane tickets including the return trip-which is not part of the parenting plan. He had to purchase all of the tickets at a greater expense at the last minute not knowing when/if she would show up. The mother is now telling him that he will get no time over the summer 2017 (he has 6 weeks per the plan) because the daughter has pageants to go to. We don't want to miss our only extended time with her and are tired of being at mom's whims to not follow the plan. How can we file contempt of court without flying frequently to Texas? We save all of our money to have her come visit (6 tickets per visit adds up! 2x per year) and he is garnished for full child support including back support. My husband would like to represent himself but that doesn't seem possible without living in Texas. How does one fight for parenting rights when distance and money are so tricky?
He would also like to change the parenting plan so that she can fly unaccompanied minor on direct flights (she is 7 and a seasoned traveler) as mom refuses out of spite so that we spend more money to see her. It is not in the parenting plan that she can or cannot currently. My husband and our family and his family are SO involved and don't want to be pushed out of the daughters life Thank you!
1 Answer from Attorneys
Contempt is tricky and more technical than any other form of civil litigation. For that reason, representing oneself in a contempt action is a recipe for disaster even as a resident of Texas.
He needs to hire a Texas attorney and let the attorney handle the case. I don't see why he would have to fly down here more than once if an attorney is handling the case. Normally, in visitation enforcement case, the person who is prosecuting only has to appear at the final trial. The attorney handles everything else.
It will not be inexpensive, but if he wins, the Court must order that she pay his attorney's fees when the case is done.
You are smart to get on top of this issue now so that it can be resolved prior to summer.
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