What to Do If Someone Isn’t Following the Custody Order

09 Feb What to Do If Someone Isn’t Following the Custody Order

It’s no surprise that child custody can be challenging to navigate, especially if you have multiple stipulations in your order such as child support or visitation rights. However, when determining these agreements, you may subject yourself to a particular set of concessions that must be adhered to at all times.

Here are some items typically included in a custody order that someone could violate:

• Not paying child support
• Denying visitation
• Moving out of geographic restrictions
• Violating injunctions such as talking about litigation or negatively about the other parent

If any or all of these things are in your child custody order and are violated, you may be able to file an enforcement.

Steps of Filing Enforcement

Before filing an enforcement, you may need to review your custody decree to see if what you deem as a violation is actually written into your agreement. In layman’s terms, you cannot file an enforcement if it is not enforceable in your decree.

If the perceived violation is written into your agreement, you need to have proof. This is often the most challenging part of filing an enforcement because things like word of mouth are not necessarily enough to determine that someone is violating their order.

If you find that enough proof is present to go ahead with filing a motion for enforcement, here are a few things that must be included:

• The provision being violated
• Manner of the violation
• Relief requested by the person filing

There are also additional requirements for motions surrounding child support cases:

• Amount paid, the amount owed, the amount owed that should have been paid earlier (arrearages)
• Record of payments

It is important to acknowledge that no two custody cases or enforcements are alike and that the court will ultimately decide if a violation occurred and if the order was clear enough to have determined that the action by the violating parent was directly against the order. If you have questions about filing a motion for enforcement of your custody or child support order, schedule a consultation with one of our experienced family attorneys by calling 940.566.0606 or visiting nbfamilylaw.com.