You have a court order that sets out your parenting time, yet the other parent keeps finding reasons to keep your child away. Missed exchanges and last-minute cancellations can leave you frustrated and wondering what your legal options are when this happens.
Understanding your visitation rights in Maryland
In the state, the time many parents call visitation appears in court orders as access or parenting time. Once a judge signs that order, both parents are bound by its terms until a judge changes them.
If the other parent unjustifiably denies your access, a judge may reschedule the lost time, add conditions or assign your costs and attorney fees to the parent at fault. You seek these remedies through a hearing, not through self-help.
Resolving disputes before pursuing litigation
Not every missed visit calls for a filing, and judges look favorably on parents who first try to settle the matter directly. Consider doing the following:
- Keeping a written record of each missed or shortened exchange, with dates and times
- Saving text messages, emails and other proof of a history
- Raising your concerns in writing and proposing make-up time in a neutral tone
- Exploring mediation or a parenting coordinator before a hearing
Many disputes ease once a neutral party becomes involved, and an organized record is often more persuasive than a lengthy list of grievances. If the matter reaches court, that documentation gives the judge a clearer view of the pattern.
Filing contempt when violations persist
When informal efforts do not work, you may ask the circuit court that issued the order to enforce it through a petition for contempt, also called a motion for contempt. The filing informs the judge that the other parent violated a binding order without justification.
At the hearing, both sides present their accounts, and your evidence helps show the pattern of denied access. If the judge finds the other parent in contempt, the outcomes can include make-up time, monetary penalties or an order to pay your legal costs.
A judge does not grant make-up time by default, weighing each request against the child’s welfare. A single absence due to illness differs from a sustained history of refusal, and the court responds to the situation accordingly.
Seeking an emergency custody modification
If your child faces an immediate risk, you may request emergency relief instead of waiting for a standard hearing date. A request of this kind rests on a sworn affidavit that lays out the specific facts; the burden of proof falls on the parent who files.
The court can schedule a hearing within days, and in narrow cases may act before the other parent is notified. Any order it issues is temporary and holds only until a full hearing decides whether a lasting change serves the child.