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Información Legal: Rhode Island

Custodia

Leyes actualizadas al 19 de julio de 2024

If the other parent doesn’t follow the custody order, what can I do?

If the other parent is not following the custody order, you may file a motion for contempt in family court. If the judge finds that the order is not being followed, s/he can punish the other parent and provide a remedy to address the violation. 

If the judge finds that the custodial parent has refused to provide visitation on two or more occasions, then this could be considered a reason to take custody away from the custodial parent.Note: If the parent is absent or didn’t follow the custody order because s/he was activated to military service or deployment out of state then that, by itself, won’t be enough to change the custody or visitation order.2

If you are the custodial parent and the non-custodial parent is not using his/her visitation, courts generally will not force the non-custodial parent to use visitation time. The rationale is they don’t want to force a parent to spend time with a child if s/he doesn’t want to because that wouldn’t be in the best interest of the child. Continual failure to use visitation time when there is joint physical custody can possibly be a legal reason to request that the custody order be changed to sole physical custody. This is something that you could consider after talking to a lawyer. 

RI Gen. Laws § 15-5-16(d)(1)
2 RI Gen. Laws § 15-5-16(g)(7)