Visitation in "dangerous neighborhood without adult

North Carolina Divorce Law Divorce and Separation Answers
1

My soon to be ex agreed in an email that he would never leave the kids alone in his new residence. I need to know if this is a legally binding agreement when presented to the court. He in essence agreed he would never leave them alone, would call me and I would get them or he would bring them to me if he had to leave the property. He moved into an extremely rough neighborhood where the kids and I both fear for their physical safety.

The hitch, we do have a custody order giving him visitation every other week during the summer. However, the judge was not aware of the agreement and I was not given an opportunity to inform the judge.

I think that even without it being legally binding, although I hope it is, doesn’t it show he considers his neighborhood dangerous, since he agreed to bringing them to me, etc… These are teenagers and my son is talking about taking a bat with him as protection because neither he or his sibling feels safe in their father’s home.

2

I’m not sure I understand the question…you have a court order for visitation…you two have agreed on a alternative in writing and the children are old enough to be left alone given normal circumstances. Why would the agreed on alternative need to be legally binding? Where do they stay normally during the day in the summer?

I think you would have to have the custody order modified to be able to force the stbx stick to it, should he change his mind about the agreement. Since a court order normally overrides an agreement…

3

The email is not a legally binding document, however you are correct in that it can be used as evidence as to the dangerous situation they are in. If the court order was issued prior to his moving there, you may file a motion to modify custody based on the substantial change in circumstances this move creates.