Divorce Solutions

Question #66

My daughter is married and has two children, ages 4 and 7. She and her husband are separated, they lived in NY, and when they separated, the father moved back to Maryland, where his family is. He left the marital residence. My daughter has been very flexible on visitation, letting him come up and stay in her apartment to visit the children, bringing them down to Maryland 1/2 way, so the father doesn’t have to do the whole ride. The thing is, in her separation agreement, does she have to agree to make the drive for visitation, or is this his responsibility to figure out how to visit his children? He has not been cooperative, and the more she does to facilitate visitation, the more he demands. He has stated that he does not care about the children’s weekend activities and does not want to participate in them (they have missed Soccer games and Church because he will not take them). I just want to ensure that she protects herself in the separation agreement.

The answer to your question should be expressly spelled out in the Separation Agreement to which you refer.
Get a copy and take a look to see what it says about non-residential parent’s responsibility regarding visitation.
If it is silent regarding this matter, your daughter should not have any obligation to bring the children to him.

Leonard M. Weiner, Esq./Divorce Solutions