What Happens if Your Child is Sick During Your Scheduled Visitation?
So it’s your scheduled visitation time, and the child’s mom calls to say your child is sick and won’t be coming. What happens then? Can you make up the visitation, or can you enforce your right and demand that the child comes? Let’s talk about it.
Hi, I’m Tulsa Dads.Law attorney Clint Hastings. I practice here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I focus on fathers’ rights, and this is my 25th year practicing.
Understanding Your Rights as a Father
This issue comes up often—kids get sick, and the question is whether mom has the right to decide if the child should miss visitation when you’re willing and able to care for them. Parenting includes caring for your child when they’re sick, and you have the same ability to do that.
Of course, there has to be a reasonable standard. It depends on how sick the child is, how far they’d have to travel, and what activities were planned. Maybe they’re too sick for outings, but not too sick to stay with you at home. These situations should be discussed between both parents. Mom doesn’t have the right to unilaterally cancel visitation just because the child has a minor illness like a cold. If she does, you could file a motion to enforce and request make-up visitation time.
Seeking Legal Guidance
On the other hand, if the child is genuinely too sick to travel, then reasonableness applies and make-up visitation should still be offered. The key issue isn’t whether the illness justified missing the weekend—it’s whether you still get your parenting time overall.
If mom refuses and you believe the child could have reasonably been with you, you can file a motion to enforce, and the court may treat it as a denial of visitation. How strong that claim is will depend on the facts, the child’s condition, and how your judge tends to rule in similar cases.
Get Legal Help Today
Now, it might not be worth it to pursue a single weekend in court, but if this becomes a pattern—mom canceling visitation for every minor sniffle—then it’s definitely worth filing to enforce and seeking make-up time.
Give Tulsa visitation enforcement attorney Clint Hastings a call at 918-962-0900 if you need help with this or any other family law matter. We’d be glad to assist you.
