Management of Visitation
It cannot be vague. It must specify the dates, rimes, and conditions of visitation exactly.
It cannot leave it up to the custodial parent to carry out the visitation. It must direct all the parties around the custodial parent to comply, not only the custodial parent.
It cannot contain empty threats. It must specify the penalties that will be imposed if the court order is violated, and it must carry out those penalties as necessary.
It must be deserved.
More specifically, a multidirectional court order will contain these key components:
1. a date specific and time specific visitation schedule: Such a schedule includes the precise dates and times when visitation is to begin and end. The specificity is to the degree that any outside observer would have no room to interpret the dates and times to be any different than those outlined by the court. This aspect of the court order would need to be renewed on a periodic basis, as defined by the court.
2. a precisely defined neutral location for visitation transfers: Ideally, the chosen site should be in a neutral setting where conflict is less likely to occur and when there is no strategic advantage for the interfering parent. Examples include the lobby of a police station, a church leader’s office, or the main entrance to a shopping center.
3. appointment of an individual to monitor and supervise all visitation transfers: The monitor should be someone who is agreeable to both parties or someone in whom the court has confidence. If the transfer site is a police station lobby, there may not be a need for an authorized monitor.
4. precisely worded authorization to all law enforcement officers to execute the transfer of children as specified in the court order: To avoid a parent’s violating the specified date and time to deliver the child to the other parent, the court order should direct the police to assist the victimized parent in locating his or her child. In certain cases, the police may be directed by the court order to arrest the violating parent.
5. precise authorization to school personnel to provide whatever rightful access is due the noncustodial parent: The court order should specifically instruct any and all personnel at the school the child attends to provide any and all records and information to either parent upon demand, and to permit both parents free access to the child during school hours. The court order should also direct the principal at each school that, should a conflict between the parents arise on the school grounds regarding access to the child and/ot the child’s teachers, a school visitation schedule be instituted that allows one parent access to the child at school for 50 percent of each week and the other parent access for the remaining 50 percent. Should either parent violate this schedule, the principal is directed to immediately notify both parties’ attorneys and the court.
6. precise authorization to all personnel involved in any activity involving the child to provide whatever rightful access is due the noncustodial parent: The court order should state clearly that any individual representing any organization that involves the child, be it educational, financial, medical, professional, recreational, religious, or otherwise, is instructed to provide both parents full and open access to any and all activities, information, schedules, and any other pertinent items or knowledge relevant to their involvement with the child.
7. precise authorization to any individual involved in any activity with the child to not engage in any behavior that would interfere with the relationship between the child and the noncustodial parent, including visitation rights: The court order should state clearly that this directive applies to any individual involved with the child in any capacity (such as group happenings, instructional activities, professional activities, recreational events, team sports, and the like), including but not limited to friends, relatives, neighbors, professionals, and acquaintances.
8. a clearly specified hierarchy of penalties for the custodial parent based on the nature of the offenses committed: The court order should provide clear-cut provisions for how a situation is to be handled if a parent violates the terms of the order. The penalties should be clearly outlined in a step-by-step manner and administered as required.
9. a clear specification of penalties for any individual who violates the court order: The court order should provide specific warning that any deliberate actions or lack of actions that adversely interfere in any aspect of carrying out the directives of the court order will result in specific penalties.
10. a clause to reserve the right of the court to modify the contents of the court order at any time and the right to enforce it in any manner deemed necessary: This clause provides the court full discretion for the implementation, modification, and enforcement of the court order.
More specifically, it is necessary to:
1. close up the loopholes typically present in traditional visitation court orders;
2. direct key individuals around the problem not to participate in the visitation interference; and
3. institute well-defined and timely penalties for violations.
In some cases, the court may direct the violating parent to make his or her problem with visitation interference a public event: the court might make the violating parent’s “recovery” public as well.
Thus, one might consider having the violating parent:
apologize to the children and victimized parent in the courtroom and promise to not interfere again;
write a letter of apology to other involved individuals, such as school personnel, team sports coaches, and the like; or
sign a statement affirming commitment to the contents of the court order and requesting anyone who reads it to abide by it.
MANAGEMENT OF VISITATION INTERFERENCE
Ira Daniel Turkat, Ph.D. from THE JUDGES’ JOURNAL, NUMBER 36, SPRING 1997 American Bar Association
It cannot be vague. It must specify the dates, rimes, and conditions of visitation exactly.
It cannot leave it up to the custodial parent to carry out the visitation. It must direct all the parties around the custodial parent to comply, not only the custodial parent.
It cannot contain empty threats. It must specify the penalties that will be imposed if the court order is violated, and it must carry out those penalties as necessary.
It must be deserved.
More specifically, a multidirectional court order will contain these key components:
1. a date specific and time specific visitation schedule: Such a schedule includes the precise dates and times when visitation is to begin and end. The specificity is to the degree that any outside observer would have no room to interpret the dates and times to be any different than those outlined by the court. This aspect of the court order would need to be renewed on a periodic basis, as defined by the court.
2. a precisely defined neutral location for visitation transfers: Ideally, the chosen site should be in a neutral setting where conflict is less likely to occur and when there is no strategic advantage for the interfering parent. Examples include the lobby of a police station, a church leader’s office, or the main entrance to a shopping center.
3. appointment of an individual to monitor and supervise all visitation transfers: The monitor should be someone who is agreeable to both parties or someone in whom the court has confidence. If the transfer site is a police station lobby, there may not be a need for an authorized monitor.
4. precisely worded authorization to all law enforcement officers to execute the transfer of children as specified in the court order: To avoid a parent’s violating the specified date and time to deliver the child to the other parent, the court order should direct the police to assist the victimized parent in locating his or her child. In certain cases, the police may be directed by the court order to arrest the violating parent.
5. precise authorization to school personnel to provide whatever rightful access is due the noncustodial parent: The court order should specifically instruct any and all personnel at the school the child attends to provide any and all records and information to either parent upon demand, and to permit both parents free access to the child during school hours. The court order should also direct the principal at each school that, should a conflict between the parents arise on the school grounds regarding access to the child and/ot the child’s teachers, a school visitation schedule be instituted that allows one parent access to the child at school for 50 percent of each week and the other parent access for the remaining 50 percent. Should either parent violate this schedule, the principal is directed to immediately notify both parties’ attorneys and the court.
6. precise authorization to all personnel involved in any activity involving the child to provide whatever rightful access is due the noncustodial parent: The court order should state clearly that any individual representing any organization that involves the child, be it educational, financial, medical, professional, recreational, religious, or otherwise, is instructed to provide both parents full and open access to any and all activities, information, schedules, and any other pertinent items or knowledge relevant to their involvement with the child.
7. precise authorization to any individual involved in any activity with the child to not engage in any behavior that would interfere with the relationship between the child and the noncustodial parent, including visitation rights: The court order should state clearly that this directive applies to any individual involved with the child in any capacity (such as group happenings, instructional activities, professional activities, recreational events, team sports, and the like), including but not limited to friends, relatives, neighbors, professionals, and acquaintances.
8. a clearly specified hierarchy of penalties for the custodial parent based on the nature of the offenses committed: The court order should provide clear-cut provisions for how a situation is to be handled if a parent violates the terms of the order. The penalties should be clearly outlined in a step-by-step manner and administered as required.
9. a clear specification of penalties for any individual who violates the court order: The court order should provide specific warning that any deliberate actions or lack of actions that adversely interfere in any aspect of carrying out the directives of the court order will result in specific penalties.
10. a clause to reserve the right of the court to modify the contents of the court order at any time and the right to enforce it in any manner deemed necessary: This clause provides the court full discretion for the implementation, modification, and enforcement of the court order.
More specifically, it is necessary to:
1. close up the loopholes typically present in traditional visitation court orders;
2. direct key individuals around the problem not to participate in the visitation interference; and
3. institute well-defined and timely penalties for violations.
In some cases, the court may direct the violating parent to make his or her problem with visitation interference a public event: the court might make the violating parent’s “recovery” public as well.
Thus, one might consider having the violating parent:
apologize to the children and victimized parent in the courtroom and promise to not interfere again;
write a letter of apology to other involved individuals, such as school personnel, team sports coaches, and the like; or
sign a statement affirming commitment to the contents of the court order and requesting anyone who reads it to abide by it.
MANAGEMENT OF VISITATION INTERFERENCE
Ira Daniel Turkat, Ph.D. from THE JUDGES’ JOURNAL, NUMBER 36, SPRING 1997 American Bar Association