Custodial PArent Denying Visitation

[StepMom123]

Hi -
First time poster. We (my husband and I) have been in a custody battle with the custodial mother for almost 5 years. We have yet to get in front of a judge as our court date keeps getting delayed, rescheduled and usurped for "more important" cases.

For 7 months mom has refused ALL visitation. Yes, there is a court order that says my husband gets to see his children and it states XX days per time period or a specific time period such as "spring break" but there are no specific days so my husband cannot call the sheriff and have them enforce the order since there are no specific days listed. He also has his children's best interest at heart and does not think it is in their best interest if he were to show up for "spring break" with the sheriff and force mom to relinquish the children - the children are overly sensitive to stress and would have anxiety attacks if mom is forced by the police to hand them over.

Our attorney has been trying to convince mom's atty that this is NOT in the best interest of the children but mom is refusing and is threatening to call child services on dad if he tries to see the kids. What might she call child services for.... anything. This woman has made stuff up in the past and called the police, child services and taken the kids to the ER to try to find grounds to deny visitation. She would LOVE to have his parental rights taken away so her current husband can adopt the kids. Not once has child services or the police found anything wrong and all allegations have been "unfounded" but that doesn't stop her from doing it time and again.

We cannot even get a court date for the multiple contempt charges filed against this woman. The courts are so backed up that charges have been piling up for over 3 years and still no hearing date. Does anyone know of ANY WAY for my husband to see his children? We have been told that the family courts (current state is NC) will NOT give us an emergency hearing since the children are not in danger.

[MixedBag]

Sorry.....but that just doesn't sound right the part about not getting into a courtroom.....

Honestly, I think I'd go around the attorney and go pull your file at the courthouse and talk to the clerks....and see if they will spill what's going on.

3 years???

And keep documenting......NO time with the children for that long....must be a violation in there somewhere for the judge to see.

[tigger]

What county?  I'm in NC and Wake County doesn't move THAT slow.  Have friends who dealt with Durham County and they aren't that slow either.

[Waylon]

You may want to look at this:

Notice Of Intent To Exercise Visitation (http://deltabravo.net/cms/plugins/content/content.php?content.118)

http://deltabravo.net/cms/plugins/content/content.php?content.118 (http://deltabravo.net/cms/plugins/content/content.php?content.118)

[MixedBag]

thanks for jumping in Tigger!

[StepMom123]

The case is in Family Court 20B (Union County) in NC.

Because we have an active case with the courts and we have attorneys appointed ALL communication must go through one attorney to the other so the notice of intent of visitation would violate that. Also - since we live 4+ hours away we would end up driving to pick up the kids, have them not show up then drive back. This is not only WRONG for us, but for my child as well who suffers each time she thinks she is going to see her step-sisters but does not.

If we didn't get the kids back or if someone doesn't pay ordered support there is help so why is there NO resource for non-custodial parents to enforce visitation? We last saw the children 7 months ago. They have not seen their father, brother or step sister since then and have had little to no contact with any of us. This is parental alienation yet NC courts don't recognize parental alienation as abuse, a crime or even an issue. Is there a politician in NC that is "friendly" toward non-custodial parents? Has anyone had any luck in writing their state rep to intervene?

Why does the American Bar Association allow their attorneys to allow their clients to withhold ordered visitation? Isn't this an ethics violation?