Custodial Interference vs. Denying Visitation Rights
A Tennessee woman made headlines in Arizona recently when she and her daughter were founded at a women’s shelter. The news stories claimed that the daughter was “reunited” with her father, and that he’s pressing charges of custodial interference.
Custodial interference falls into the same part of the Tennessee Criminal Code as kidnapping, but they’re entirely different charges. Kidnapping involves forcing another person to come with you, usually under threat of violence. Custodial interference is the deliberate and willful disregard of a custody order. This isn’t to say that a parent can’t threaten his or her child, or that a grandparent couldn’t force a grandchild to leave the family home: those things could happen. But custodial interference is a Class E felony with a maximum sentence of six years, whereas kidnapping is a Class C felony and can land you in prison for up to 15 years.
What’s important to note about custodial interference, however, is that it requires a parent (or grandparent, aunt, uncle, sibling or other adult family member) to physically move the child out of the state. This is a very different scenario than simply being denied visitation rights by the parent.
Violation of a custody order
It is illegal for one parent to deny the other parent access to a child once a custody order or parenting plan has been put in place. The only thing you can do is seek the help of the court. We tell our clients to:
- Keep track of the missed visitation days
- Record instances where you attempted to reschedule
- Keep paying your child support
If you’re being denied repeatedly, we petition the court to enforce the order. Not paying your child support is a separate legal matter; it won’t help you see your children, and it could land you in jail if you continue to refuse to pay.
The most important thing to do, whether you’re being denied visitation or if someone has moved your child to another state, is to speak with an attorney immediately. Taking matters into your own hands could be detrimental to your child and to your case.