My son is 15 years old and his mother and I have 50/50 custody. My son’s mother is in possession of my son’s passport due to her traveling to Mexico with my son. I have an opportunity to take my son with me to Germany for 2 weeks on my summer vacation time with him and his mother refuses to give me his passport. We have an agreed vacation and holiday schedule that was added to our child custody order which also states::
Exhibit A
The Defendant and Plaintiff are allowed to travel at any time with the minor child only during their court-ordered custody times. If either parent leaves the state of North Carolina or the Country at any time they must notify the other parent with travel times, addresses and phone numbers for all the places where the child will be residing during that trip and airplane itinerary if there is one. Both parents are required to cooperate with one another to provide the necessary notarized papers, paperwork or passport needed to be able to travel with the minor child and provide a copy of the passport to the parent staying in NC.
**I am due to travel with my son in 4 weeks how do I go about getting a Quick contempt order?
You can file a motion for order to appear and show cause (i.e. contempt motion) and accompanying it with a notice of hearing. You’ll need to call the clerk’s office or the family court office (if there is one in your county) to ask for available hearing dates. You can probably get a hearing date before 4 weeks from now.
Once you serve the motion and order to appear and show cause on the mother, this may be enough for her to comply rather than risk going to court.
Anna Ayscue
Attorney with Rosen Law Firm Cary • Chapel Hill • Durham • Raleigh • Wake Forest
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