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Document Every Denial
Write down each missed visit and refused exchange, with dates, and save the texts and emails behind them.
Monday - Friday8:30AM - 5PM
OfficesFairfax | Manassas
Child Visitation / Enforcement & Contempt
Enforcement & Contempt · Virginia
A court order is a court order.
When the other parent keeps you from your child in violation of the order, Virginia courts have real tools to fix it. We document the pattern, file the right motion, and ask for make-up time, fees, or contempt, the calm and lawful way.
First call is a conversation, not a commitment.
The Short Answer
If the other parent denies court-ordered visitation, you can file a motion to enforce or a show cause motion for contempt. Document every missed visit in writing first. Virginia courts can order make-up time, attorney fees, fines, and in extreme cases jail. Withholding the child or support in return is almost never the answer.
How It Works
When the order is being ignored.
Few things are as maddening as standing at the door on your scheduled day and being turned away. You did the work to get an order, and the other parent is treating it as a suggestion. The good news is that an order is not a suggestion, and Virginia courts do not take kindly to a parent who treats it like one. The path forward is steady and lawful, and it works.
Step one is documentation
Before anything else, write it down. Every missed visit, every refused exchange, every excuse, with dates. Save the texts and emails. One bad day is just a bad day to a judge. A documented pattern of denials is something else entirely, and it is what turns your complaint into a case.
The right motion
With a record in hand, we file. Usually that means a motion to enforce the existing order, or a show cause motion that asks the court to order the other parent to appear and explain why they should not be held in contempt for violating it. The motion puts the violation squarely in front of the judge and asks for a remedy.
What the court can do
Virginia courts have real teeth here. A judge can order make-up time so you recover what you lost, modify the order to make it more specific and harder to violate, award your attorney fees, impose fines, and in extreme or repeated cases order jail. The court's goal is to enforce the parenting time you were already granted.
Keep your own record clean
Here is the part that decides close cases. The other parent's bad behavior helps you only if your own conduct is beyond reproach. Show up on time. Stay calm at exchanges. Follow the order to the letter, even when they are not. Let the judge see one parent honoring the order and one parent breaking it. That contrast is powerful, and you do not want to blur it.
First stepDocument every denial in writing, with dates, and save messages.
The filingMotion to enforce, or a show cause motion for contempt.
RemediesMake-up time, a more specific order, attorney fees, fines, or jail.
Your conductKeep following the order perfectly; the contrast matters.
SourceBest interests standard, Va. Code § 20-124.3; court contempt powers.
A Note On Retaliation
Withholding the child because you are owed time, or stopping support because they broke the order, is almost never the answer. It hurts your child and it hurts your case. Visitation and support are separate obligations. Call us first, and we will move through the court instead.
Source: Va. Code § 20-124.3
Alisa Chunephisal, Esq.Founding Partner
Attorney Insight
A few honest things about enforcement.
"The parent who keeps a calm record and follows the order while the other one breaks it wins the room before anyone says a word."
When a client is being denied time, the instinct is to fight fire with fire, to hold the child back next time or stop the support check. I understand the impulse and I tell every client the same thing: do not. It hands the other side the only weapon they had. The parents who win enforcement cases are the ones who keep showing up, keep following the order, and keep a clean, dated record of every denial. Then we walk into court with that record, and the judge sees exactly who is honoring the order and who is not. That contrast does the heavy lifting.
Questions Parents Ask
Plain answers about enforcement.
These are the questions parents ask most when their time is being blocked. If yours is not here, we are happy to answer it directly.
Have a specific question?
Call 571.260.0999 or send us a message.
What can I do if the other parent denies visitation?
You can file a motion to enforce the existing order or a show cause motion asking the court to hold the other parent in contempt. Document every missed visit in writing first.
Virginia courts can order make-up time, attorney fees, fines, and in extreme cases jail.
What is a show cause or contempt motion?
A show cause motion asks the court to order the other parent to appear and explain why they should not be held in contempt for violating the visitation order. If the court finds a willful violation, it can impose remedies designed to enforce the order and make up the lost time.
What remedies can the court order?
A court can order make-up time, modify the order to make it more specific and harder to violate, award attorney fees, impose fines, and in extreme or repeated cases order jail time. The aim is to restore the parenting time the order already granted.
Should I withhold the child or support if visitation is denied?
No. Withholding the child or stopping support in retaliation is almost never the answer. It hurts your child and it hurts your case. Visitation and support are treated as separate obligations, so the right move is to document the denials and take them to the court.
When You Are Ready
Being kept from your child? Let's fix it the right way.
Bring us what is happening and any records you have, and we will turn a pattern of denied time into a motion the court can act on. Three offices across Northern Virginia, one phone number.