How to Enforce a Court Order for Visitation in Indiana

Stand up for your right to visit your children.

You may need to take action when your former spouse refuses to follow the court order for visitation. If you believe a custodial parent is not giving you the parenting time the court ordered, file a motion with the court, present your evidence and seek civil and criminal sanctions. Neither party can take the law into his own hands. A parent cannot keep you from your children, even if you are behind on child support and you cannot withhold support to force her to comply.

Instructions

Requesting the Court Enforce an Order for Visitation

1. Obtain a Verified Motion for Contempt packet and fill out the necessary forms. You can get a packet from the court that issued your visitation order or the Indiana Courts website (in.gov). On the website, you can type your responses into the forms and print the results or you can print a blank packet and fill it out by hand.

2. Refer to your visitation order and the records of your visitation attempts, while filing out the motion. The court will not address any issues you do not cover in the motion, so be thorough. Sign the completed product and make at least two copies.

3. File the forms with the court that issued your visitation order. That court may have additional procedures and local court rules are available on the court's website. The clerk of the court will put the filing date on the forms and give you a copy for your records

4. Send a copy of the motion with the clerk's date stamped on it to your former spouse. Send the forms by certified mail or request a delivery receipt to prove the respondent got the paperwork.

5. Give the clerk two stamped envelopes, one with your address and one with the custodial parent's address. When the court schedules your hearing, the clerk will send a motion of hearing to both parties.

6. Prepare for the hearing by reviewing the contempt law and resources on how to behave in court. Make sure you understand what evidence the court will use in its decision and what is not admissible -- and practice telling the judge your side of things.

7. Get to the court at least 30 minutes earlier than the motion of hearing indicates your hearing will start. Do not talk to your former spouse or interrupt. Indiana family proceedings move as quickly as possible, but a ruling may take several days to a week.

Tips & Warnings

• Bring anything that might show your attempts to visit your children regularly and that the custodial parent is preventing visitation. Make sure to review the local laws about what you can use as evidence.

• Consider hiring an attorney, if you are not sure how to prove the custodial parent is disobeying the court's order, intentionally or not, or if the response to your motion indicates the respondent has retained counsel.

References

• Indiana Courts: Verified Motion for Contempt

Resources

• Indiana Courts: Self-Service Legal Center