GLASTONBURY, CONNECTICUT · FAMILY LAW + FAMILY-VIOLENCE DEFENSE
Many parents do not realize that access orders are enforceable the same way financial orders are. A parent refusing to follow the schedule is not simply a private frustration to be absorbed.
Clarify an ambiguous order, which is sometimes the actual problem.
Order compensatory parenting time to replace what was missed.
Make the order more specific, removing the room that allowed the dispute.
Award attorney’s fees under C.G.S. §46b-87.
Find contempt, where the refusal was wilful and the order was clear.
Treat persistent interference as relevant to custody itself. A parent’s willingness to support the child’s relationship with the other parent is an explicit best-interest factor. Sustained interference is evidence on that question.
A record. Missed exchanges documented at the time, in writing, with the reason given, are far more useful than a recollection of a difficult year. Texts and emails in full context. A simple log kept contemporaneously.
What does not help is retaliation. Withholding support because access was denied, or denying access because support was not paid, puts you in contempt rather than the other parent. The obligations are independent.
Not every missed visit is a violation. Illness, a child’s genuine refusal at an age where the court will weigh it, work schedules, and ordinary life happen. Courts distinguish between a pattern and an incident, and filing on an incident rarely ends well.
The same questions apply as in any contempt matter: was the order clear, was the failure wilful, and was there an inability to comply. A child’s refusal to go, particularly an older child’s, is a complicated fact rather than an automatic defence — what matters is what you did about it.
What a Connecticut contempt motion requires, what the court can order, and the limits on incarceration. For either side of the motion.
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How to change a Connecticut custody, child support, or alimony order after judgment — the substantial change standard, and why filing early matters.
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When a Connecticut family court order is ignored — motions for contempt, income withholding, and what happens if you have been served with one.
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Every case starts with a conversation about what you’re facing and what it would take to handle it.
