So you have tried and tried but have been unable to get the other parent to follow the court order? Have you have tried all the tips and tricks we discussed in Asking for Additional Time and Standard Visitation is Not Enough? If so, then it may be time to ask for help from the Judge.
Title 43 O.S. Section 111.3 may be your answer. Oklahoma provides that a parent who is not receiving his or her court-ordered visitation may apply to the court for an order enforcing visitation. The court is required to set the hearing within twenty-one (21) days of filing or set the case for mediation. If the court finds that visitation has been unreasonably denied then the court can do the following:
- A specific visitation schedule;
- Compensating visitation time for the visitation denied or otherwise interfered with, which time shall be of the same type (e.g. holiday, weekday, weekend, summer) as the visitation denied or otherwise interfered with, and shall be at the convenience of the noncustodial parent;
- Posting of a bond, either cash or with sufficient sureties, conditioned upon compliance with the order granting visitation rights;
- Assessment of reasonable attorney fees, mediation costs, and court costs to enforce visitation rights against the custodial parent;
- Attendance of one or both parents at counseling or educational sessions which focus on the impact of visitation disputes on children;
- Supervised visitation; or
- Any other remedy the court considers appropriate, which may include an order which modifies a prior order granting child custody.
The key is that visitation must be unreasonably denied. This means that the reason the other parent said no or didn’t show for visitation was not a good reason. In my experience, if the child got sick, the parent’s car broke down, the other parent has a legitimate fear that the child will be abducted or harmed then these can be persuasive to the judge that the denial was reasonable.