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Keep a copy of the court order in a secure place. Review the order. Begin by sending a letter to your former spouse. Contact the police to help you enforce the order. File an action for contempt.
This is very important. This should be a certified copy issued by the court. In any dispute about child custody, it is very important to have evidence of your legal rights and responsibilities regarding child custody, and the court order provides the best and legally authoritative evidence of those rights and responsibilities. If you are in the early stages of a child custody dispute, review the details of the order to see what your rights and responsibilities are according to that order. This is important because you may think that your former partner is violating the child custody agreement, but that may not necessarily be the case. Review carefully the details of the order to determine if the other party is in violation of the order. It may be a good idea to begin with soft methods of enforcement rather than going straight to the authorities. This way, your dispute regarding the custody order can be resolved amicably and with little emotional disturbance to your children. An example of a soft method of enforcement is to send a written notice to the parent in violation of the order requesting him to comply with the order. You may use the help of a family law attorney to help you with the letter. Use formal language when writing the letter and include in the letter the following information:  That you plan to exercise your rights under the order (e.g. by visiting the children at a specified time and location). That you plan to exercise your responsibilities under the order (e.g. by returning the kids at a specified time as required by the order). That continued violation of the order could result in a contempt of court action being filed against the non-complying parent (i.e. the parent in violation of the order). You may feel that the nature of the violation is such that you need the help of law enforcement to help you enforce the order. In this case, calling the police is an option.   Note that although police enforcement of a custody order is a possibility in theory, in practice your local law enforcement may be unwilling to become involved in a family dispute unless the violation of the order involves criminal infractions (e.g. abuse or kidnapping).  The police may be willing to get involved in such cases that require calling the non-complying parent or escorting you to the non-complying parent’s house to pick up your kids.  Alternatively, the police may be unwilling to get involved if the infraction is not criminal in nature and may ask you to take the matter up with a court. If writing a letter or having the police involved does not work, you may consider asking the courts to enforce the order through an action for contempt. In a contempt action, you ask a court to enforce the order. The court may determine whether the other parent willfully violated the order. Such a determination can have serious consequences for the non-complying parent.  The burden of proof lies with you. In other words, it is up to you to prove with solid evidence that the non-complying parent willfully violated the custody order. “Willfully” violating the order means the non-complying parent knew about the existence of the order, was able to comply with the order but knowingly violated the order, and does not have a just cause or excuse for violating the order.  An action for contempt requires filing a motion in the same court that issued the custody order. Filing a motion will result in the court issuing a hearing date. If you are using the help of an attorney, she can help you file the motion. If you are representing yourself, contact the court clerk for information on filing documents and procedures.  The non-complying parent has a right to be officially informed of the motion and pending charges against him. Therefore, after the court issues a hearing, you must serve the paperwork to the non-complying parent. Your attorney can help you with this process. At the hearing, the judge will hear evidence from you (the party alleging that the order has been violated) and the non-complying parent. After hearing evidence, the judge will determine whether or not the non-complying parent willfully violated the order and, therefore, whether or not the non-complying parent is in contempt. If the judge finds the necessary proof, the court will issue an order detailing how the non-complying parent must comply and how the issue may be resolved.  Notice that the purpose of a contempt action is not to “punish” the non-complying parent but to pressure him into complying with the custody order. Avoid trying to use this method for resolving minor disputes, as a finding of contempt can lead to serious consequences for the non-complying parent. These consequences include civil and criminal charges, such as fines, paying your attorney fees, compensatory custody time, or even a consequence as serious as jail time.