Divorce is always difficult, especially for children. To help ease the challenges associated with divorce, a judge will create child custody arrangements so children can spend time and develop healthy bonds with each of their parents. These arrangements are a tenant of family law and made in the best interest of children.
 
Sometimes these child custody arrangements are not followed. I have been contacted by several constituents that have alleged that their former spouses do not abide by the child custody arrangements and frequently keep children longer than they are allotted, impeding on the other parent’s scheduled time.
 
Current law allows a judge to assess fines, probation, driver’s license suspensions, or prison time as potential remedies for child custody order violations. These charges are rare and most do not address the core issue of parents missing time with their child. In order to address the issue of lost parenting time, I will introduce legislation that will allow judges to temporarily modify physical child custody schedules to allow for make-up time when one parent is found to be in contempt.  This will allow judges at their discretion to assign additional custody time, on a temporary basis, to the parent that brought the contempt action to make up for lost time. It will ensure that each parent receives the amount of time that is laid out in a custody order.
 
This legislation is supported by the PA Bar Association.
 
Please cosponsor this legislation to give judges more tools to address and remedy child custody contempt in a fair and equitable manner.