Background information: North Carolina is the state of jurisdiction. Mother lives in Georgia (by approval of NC Court) and Father lives in North Carolina. Mother has primary custody of 6 yr old who attends school in Georgia. Father has set visitation with child including 2 weekends a month. Parents (ordered by court) meet at a halfway point in South Carolina. So, two weekends per month, this child rides in a car for 7 hours on Friday evening and 7 hours on Sunday evening to spend time with the Father in North Carolina. During many months, the child must make this trip three times because father also gets child for any three day school weekend that occur other than his stated 2nd and 4th weekend of the month. Crazy, I know. Ordered by the judge.
Father appears to be tired of this. It is a lot of money for gas much less time for both parents and this poor child spends so much time riding in a car. Fathers wife, child’s step-mother has a sister who lives in Georgia about one hour away from where the child resides. Father is proposing that during one weekend of his visitation time each month, the Mother drives the child both ways to spend time with his wife’s family in Georgia in lieu of the father spending time with him. The father will not be present during these weekends.
Isn’t the point of visitation so the PARENT spends time with the child? I think he mostly just wants the Mother to not have the child during these weekends, although he says that he doesn’t think it’s fair for the child to spend so much time riding in the car even though this custody order has been in effect and has been done for 1 year and 9 months. Mother is not agreeable to this. Will the court side with him if it goes that far?