We have written in our current custody order that we get the children on December 26th at 8am for the Christmas break. The ex-wife is being difficult and has decided that she isn’t going to be able to make it to our court ordered meeting point at the court ordered time. She doesn’t want to travel with the children by herself at night or travel with them during the day on Christmas, which we have agreed with her on for the safety of the boys. We spoke to our attorney and she recommended that we try to negotiate with the ex on a more convenient time. My husband has e-mailed her as have I requesting that she respond to our compromise of meeting her at noon, or we will see her as court ordered at 8am and have not received a response from her. My question is, if she doesn’t respond to our compromise and we arrive there at 8am but she doesn’t show at 8am do we have to wait for her until she shows up, whenever that may be, or can we turn around and head home and make her deliver the children to us? Last year when traveling with her now estranged husband they didn’t show up until after 7pm with no excuse other then they were spending the day with the husbands family, completely ignoring the boys right to spend the time with their father which is court ordered. We had been at the meeting point since 8 am after a 7 hour drive from New England to Maryland. My concern that she isn’t going to show up on time is proven from her history and I would like to know what our options are. We cannot afford to take her back to court on contempt charges, which she knows, but if she doesn’t show on time we want to know if we have the right to turn around and make her deliver the boys to us in New England directly and not be able to say we did anything illegal or have done anything that she can hold us in contempt for.
Thank you for any help you may have!