Motion of Contempt for Visitation

by Beverly from North Lauderdale, Florida, Broward County

My ex filed a motion of contempt of court stating I refuse to let him see our daughter, what to do?

1. June 2010 my ex took me to court for a restraining order, case dismissed no evidence.

2. August 2010 called DCF on me, claims I don't feed our daughter, no findings, as a result I requested counseling for our daughter and she is receiving.

3. December 2010 ex filed a contempt of court order stating that I am refusing to let him see our daughter.

He has not picked her up in one month. I detail logs of pick up and no shows. I have logs of picked up and no shows at the police station and the daycare will give me a letter stating that he has been picking her up on Wednesday.

He does not inform me when he is not picking up but will text me "nasty words". He told my daughter yesterday that he is not picking her up till the court says it is okay. Also, I have my daughter's daily school planner that he's been signing when she is at his house.

My question: what will the judge do at this point. My daughter is being hurt and today I had the cops call him to verify pick up for today and he said no.

I already responded to the contempt paper, I provided a detail log of pick up and no shows. What should I expect at court?

What do I do in the mean time? My daughter has a text from him stating he won't pick her up until the court says so, however we already have mediation paper work with set visitation.

Answer to Florida Child Visitation Question

Dear Beverly,

My suggestion is that you go to the contempt hearing and explain to the judge what has been going on.

Take to the court hearing any documentation that can prove that you are not in contempt of court.

Take your log with you; a letter from DCF showing that the complaint was unfounded; print out the text that he sent to your daughter.

That text shows that he may be trying to convince your daughter that you are keeping him from seeing her.

If all he requested in his motion for contempt/enforcement is that the child visitation/ time-sharing be enforced, and you are already complying and can prove it – he is just going to look foolish and vindictive.

Notice: We provide these answers to the general public and our website visitors as a means to further their online legal research. These answers are merely suggestions and should not be regarded as legal advice.

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Comments for Motion of Contempt for Visitation

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Can My Ex File Contempt of Court Against Me?
by: Michelle from Florida

My ex-husband and I have both a parenting plan outlining visitation arrangements for our children and our divorce decree, that specifies a "back-up" arrangement that we default to, if we can't agree on the parenting plan.

For the past few years, we had an entirely different arrangement in place (that was nothing like our parenting plan or divorce decree) that was abandoned without warning several months ago by him, over a disagreement. There are concerns regarding the safety of the children when they are in his custody and the appropriate authorities are involved.

I have asked him to go to mediation repeatedly via email to establish a new permanent visitation arrangement and he refuses to acknowledge my requests. I email him weekly, asking when he wants to see the kids. Sometimes he answers, others he doesn't. At best I will get 24 hrs notice if he wants to visit. I am keeping a calendar of dates that he sees the kids for my records.

So, my question is, if he isn't requesting visitation per what the court has ordered, can he take me to court for contempt? I have pages and pages of emails I sent him asking when he wants to visit the kids. I have allowed him to visit at my home or in a public place, but not disappear with the kids for days at a time as I have very serious concerns about their safety.

--If you are in good faith attempting to follow the original custody and visitation order and the "back-up" plan, I don't see how you could be held in contempt. My suggestion is to continue what your are doing to document your attempts to contact him about his visitation, and if you are comfortable with the way the current order is worded, then you can just leave it as it is. Otherwise, you could file a supplemental petition to modify and ask the court to have the parenting plan changed to something more realistic based on the current circumstances. --Staff

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