Termination of Visitation Rights

Only in very rare situations will a court terminate a parent's rights of visitation. The standard used by courts in reaching the decision to terminate visitation is whether visitation would endanger the child. In most cases, the decision is in the discretion of the court.

Custody Enforcement through Writ of Habeas Corpus

In some states, where one parent has been granted custody but the other parent or a nonparent has refused to return the child to the custodial parent, the custodial parent may file for a writ of habeas corpus to request that the court order the child be returned.

Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act

Too often, a parent, who did not like a child custody or visitation ruling in one state, would take the child to another state. In the new state, the parent could seek a new custody order or simply avoid the reach of the other parent's attempts to have the custody order of the first state enforced in the second state. To combat these problems the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act was drafted. In 1997, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws drafted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) to address issues that arose from the application of Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act. The UCCJEA provides interstate enforcement procedures for child custody and visitation orders.

Child Support Arrearages

The federal government provides financial assistance to states to collect local and interstate child support obligations. States have enacted a wide variety of methods to collect child support from those who are obligated to pay and fail or refuse to do so.

Liens to Enforce Child Support Obligations

Where a past due child support obligation has been reduced to judgment, a lien can be placed against property owned by the parent who owed the child support, and the state agency or custodial parent can execute on that property to collect the amount owed.