Reviewed by Michael Colin Barrows, Esq.
If your child’s other parent has committed repeated violations of your custody order, you may be wondering how you can enforce the terms and protect both your child and your rights. Continue reading for more information and work with a skilled Long Island enforcement proceedings lawyer today.
How Can Someone Violate a Custody Order?
A custody order is a legally binding court order that outlines each parent’s rights and responsibilities concerning their child after a separation or divorce. The goal of these orders is to provide consistency, stability, and structure for the children involved. A custody order typically addresses several critical areas, including:
- Physical custody, which specifies where the child lives
- Legal custody, which determines decision-making authority for the child’s welfare
- Parenting time schedule
- Holiday and vacation arrangements
- Transportation responsibilities
- Communication rules between the parents
A custody order is violated when a parent fails to comply with any of its terms. Common violations range from serious breaches to seemingly minor infractions. Examples of violations include refusing court-ordered visitation or parenting time, returning the child late, or failing to return the child to the other parent at all.
Other violations involve interfering with the child’s phone or video communication with the other parent, making major decisions about the child without consulting the co-parent, or relocating the child without legal permission. While one isolated instance may not always result in serious legal consequences, repeated violations can escalate and become legally significant if they demonstrate a clear pattern of noncompliance.
Chronic lateness is important because many individuals feel as though it isn’t serious enough to act on. As such, a parent who is consistently late to exchange ultimately impacts a share of the other’s parenting time over the course of the year, and courts do treat that pattern as a violation, even if no single instance would qualify. The same is true of consistent last-minute cancellations.
How Can I Enforce a Custody Order After Repeated Violations in NY?
When a parent repeatedly disregards a legally binding custody order in New York, court intervention may be necessary to protect your parental rights. Before turning to the court, you should first attempt to resolve the issue directly with your co-parent, unless there are concerns about safety.
Two things to note:
- Do not retaliate: withholding parenting time in response to your spouse’s violation means you are in breach of the same order. This ultimately turns a case you would have otherwise won into two cases against each other.
- Keep conversations in writing: Any communication with your spouse should be documented in writing. Avoid phone calls or in-person conversations when possible, as written communication keeps a clear record.
Document all communication to establish a paper trail, which can later demonstrate to the court that you made requests to resolve the situation amicably. If your efforts fail, the next step is to enlist legal help and file a formal violation petition in the Family Court that issued the original order.
Where your custody order came out of a divorce rather than a Family Court proceeding, enforcement may instead proceed in the Supreme Court that issued the judgment, though Family Court often has concurrent jurisdiction once the divorce is final. Check which court issued your order before preparing anything, since the petition above is a Family Court form.
A lawyer can help you gather evidence to prove the co-parent willfully and knowingly failed to abide by the order.
What “Willful” Means Here
It is important to understand that your case ultimately rests on whether or not the other parent’s actions were willful, which is more narrow than standard non-compliance. A violation is considered willful when the parent knew what the order states and violated it without good cause. For example, a missed exchange because someone is in the emergency room is not considered willful, while repeated refusal of parenting time or unexplained no-shows generally is. That is why isolated incidents rarely succeed, as documenting patterns is more important than documenting single instances.
If the judge finds that a willful violation occurred, they can impose several penalties and remedies, such as:
- Awarding compensatory time: Granting the affected parent additional time with the child to make up for missed parenting time.
- Ordering a custody modification: Changing the terms of the custody or visitation schedule.
- Paying legal fees: Ordering the violating party to cover the other parent’s court costs and lawyer fees.
- Contempt of court: Holding the violating parent in contempt, which can result in monetary sanctions or, in rare and severe cases, jail time.
Child Support Is a Separate Matter
You should also understand that parenting time and child support are independent of each other. As such, a parent who is owed child support cannot withhold parenting time, and a parent who is denied parenting time cannot stop making child support payments in response. These are separately enforceable matters, and parents who take these into their own hands usually find that the court will address these issues first.
Contact an Experienced Family Law Firm Today
For more information on your legal rights and options regarding custody enforcement, reach out to a skilled attorney at Barrows Levy PLLC. We understand how difficult these matters can be to navigate, which is why we will do everything in our power to assist you through these complex times. Contact us today to learn how we can represent you.
