I’ll assume that what you mean by “my ex and I have joint custody” is you and your ex share physical custody of your child. I’ll also assume that in the past couple of months, while you have made reasonable efforts to follow the court-ordered custody schedule, your ex is interfering with those efforts by refusing to send the child with you when you knock on your ex’s door to pick up the child or by getting to school before you do and snatching the child up and racing away before you can pick the child up yourself. Shenanigans like those.
The laws governing the enforcement of child custody orders and the modification of child custody orders may share some similarities, but are not the same, so you will need to ensure you understand what the law is for your jurisdiction. Generally speaking, though, interfering with custody for “merely” a couple of months won’t be enough to get a court to strip the offending parent of whatever custody rights and schedule was ordered. To modify the child custody award in Utah (where I practice divorce and family law), the parent seeking the modification must show that circumstances have changed so substantially and materially that the best interest of the child necessitate a modification of the custody schedule.
The court would likely find the offending parent in your situation in contempt of court for violating the custody schedule orders for that couple of months he/she violated the orders, and then penalize that parent with fines, awarding you your attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing the contempt motion, community service, attending “parenting” courses, and perhaps even impose a jail sentence.
The court would also likely award you “make up time”—additional time for you and the child to spend together over and above the court-ordered schedule to compensate for the time your ex deprived you and the child of.
And it’s good that you are looking into this now because if you don’t take action to enforce the joint custody order and continue to permit your ex to deprive you and the child of court-ordered time together, that could actually be used as evidence against you for modifying the custody award so that you lose joint custody and become relegated to a minimal “visitation” or “parent-time” schedule.
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277
