I cannot find anything specific regarding age of child and visitation guidlelines. I have physical custody of my two children, ages 17 and 14. My ex and I share legal. He has visitation which is fairly normal every other weekend, and two days/week. He has taken the children to Martha's Vineyard this week without: 1. informing me. 2. I've asked where the children are and he refuses to provide me with that information. 3. I've learned that my 17 year old son is actually NOT with his father, but has stayed behind and is living this week by himself at his father's place. Again, I have not been informed of his whereabouts (I learned this on Facebook!) My questions relate to whether or not I should bother pursuing this in court. My ex has a history of toying with the visitation schedule. Would the court consider it to be appropriate to allow a 17 y.o to live alone for a week without informing the custodial parent of his whereabouts? Is this worth pursing? Are there precedent cases in this area?
Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 07/24/2011 - 10:01
Child visitation violation
If you feel that your 17 year old will be harmed, then it may be worth pursuing. The reality is that the child is 17 and is too old to be told what to do. Regardless of what the Court tells the child to do, it is most likely that the child will do what s/he wants to do. That being said, your other child is only 14 and if you feel that Father is putting the 14 year old in danger during the visitations, then you may want to pursue a modification of the parenting plan.
Wyckoff Nissenbaum
www.SomervilleLawOffice.com