Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland
I have full physical custody of my son. There is a court order in place that gives his birth father every other weekend of unsupervised visitation from Friday at 4pm till Sunday at 6pm. In my court order for child visitation it states that both parties are entitled to two weeks of summer vacation. It also covers holidays. My ex and I both share the holidays. I have my son on every Christmas eve and through Christmas day. My ex picks him up at 3pm and has him through the 26th at 4pm.
This year Christmas eve falls on Friday, which would be his normal day to pick my son up for the every other weekend visitation. I will have him through Saturday at 3pm. My ex seems to believe that I need to "make up" time because he will lose a full day. He is DEMANDING that I let him have our son on the Tuesday or Wednesday.
He has also filed a contempt case against me as I had the audacity to take two weeks vacation in the summer and he lost two of his weekends and I will not "make up" that time either. I was clearly told that vacation and holidays supersede his regular visitation, but our court order is very vague and does not spell this out. Please advise.
1 Answer from Attorneys
1. Ironically, it's probably a good thing that your ex has filed the contempt action against you. Based on what you have written above, there is very little chance he will be successful and you can use it as a chance to have the judge amend the custody order to clarify what happens in situations like these.
2. Under NO circumstance should you allow your ex to have custody of your son during the Tues or Wed. time frame. Your custody order does not allow your ex to have custody during those times, under any circumstance, so the only person that gets in trouble for allowing this is YOU. Plus, it sets a really bad precedent going forward -- if you cave to your ex on this issue, he'll keep doing it to you in the future. If the ex appears at your home to take the son on Tues or Wed. (or any other time not allowed by the custody order), do not let your ex in the home, do not let your son leave, and call the police if necessary -- have your custody order handy to show the police. Stand firm.
3. Hire a Maryland family law attorney IMMEDIATELY. The BEST way to keep this from happening in the future is to have an attorney who is familiar with your situation ready to go on a moment's notice. If you have an attorney and so does your ex, you are equal footing. If you have an attorney and your ex doesn't, your have an advantage. If your ex has an attorney and you don't, you risk losing rights.
Best of luck.*****The above is for informational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client privilege.*******
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