Visitation being denied

[dsp2008]

My grandchildren are in the permanent guardianship of the maternal grandparents. The permanent Guardianship Order states " it is further ordered that the parents will have visits with the minor child(ren) as agreed upon between guardians and parents."

My daughter-in-law filed contempt charges against the guardians because they harassed her about various issues i.e. told her she could not talk about her new puppy, house, the fact that she had reconciled with the father(my son) or show pictures to the children of the puppy, house, etc. when she arrived for visitation. Her last visit escalated to a shouting match between her and Mr. Guardian. She got upset and decided to leave and not continue the visit. Her mother began calling her a "bad lady". All of this in front of the children. The judge dismissed the contempt charge because the guardian did not stop her from seeing the children. We understand now why it was dismissed.

My son has emailed the guardians and asked to visit his children and the guardians have refused (via email).

My question is... are the guardians in contempt for not allowing my son visitation? Do the orders have to be written with specific dates in order to be in contempt? What legal recourse does my son have?

Thank you.

 

[irish223]

The vagueness of the order makes it a little more difficult to prove contempt. Also, if your son has only emailed once, that's not enough.

I would suggest that your son email the guardians every week to set up a visitation time. He should include the times that he is available to visit, and ask the guardians to pick the time(s) that works for them. If they continue to refuse visitation for several weeks or more, then he can file.

If the guardians fail to respond to his emails, he may have to send letters with return receipt requested.