In Illinois, visitation and child support are two separate matters. You cannot deny visitation because you didn’t get your child support. By the same token, you cannot refuse to pay child support because you didn’t get your visitation.
If your ex-spouse has court-ordered visitation, your preventing that visitation could have serious consequences. You could be held in contempt of court which could mean jail, attorney fees and/or fines. You could be charged with the crime of Unlawful Visitation or Parenting Time Interference.
Illinois law defines visitation abuse as occurring when a party "has willfully and without justification: (1) denied another party visitation as set forth by the court; or (2) exercised his or her visitation rights in a manner that is harmful to the child or child’s custodian." (750 ILCS 5/607.1).
Illinois courts generally favor visitation rights. In one case, the Illinois Court of Appeals held a mother in contempt for denying visitation even though the trial court deemed the father a "bad parent." Even though the children did not want to visit their father and were participating in extra-curricular activities, the mother’s failure to comply with the visitation order was not excused. Another mother wanted the father to sign a Parental Declaration setting out how their children would be treated. The Illinois Appeals Court treated this as visitation abuse.
On the other hand, sometimes a parent claims visitation abuse, when in fact, they have failed to exercise their rights as spelled out in the order. Maybe they routinely show up very late or demand visitation on the wrong dates. Further a custodial parent may have a defense against visitation abuse if the other parent is endangering the child.
If you have a visitation matter, contact an experienced child custody lawyer to discuss your case. If you have been denied visitation, an attorney can help petition the court to enforce your rights. If you believe your spouse is endangering your children, an attorney could help by seeking supervised visitation. Generally, you should reasonably attempt to work out any disputes with the other parent before going to court, and an attorney can suggest strategies for how to do this.
If you have questions about this or another domestic relations matter, please contact Zachary W. Williams at 1-312-981-0851 or email zwwlawyer@gmail.com.
See our related blog: Failure to Pay Child Support Can Cost Your Driver's License at http://childcustodylawyerchicagoil.blogspot.com/2012/07/failure-to-pay-child-support-can-cost.html
For a criminal law attorney’s perspective on the crime of Unlawful Visitation or Parenting Time Interference, see Matt Keenan’s Skokie Criminal Lawyer blog, Interfering with Visitation is a Crime in Illinois at http://www.skokiecriminallawyer.com/2012/05/interfering-with-visitation-is-crime-in.html.
