From Legalese to Common Sense
Video Transcript: So this was continuing on my prior topic about how courts will interpret and how you should interpret your decree, whether it be a divorce decree or a paternity decree. I am Oklahoma fathers’ rights attorney Brian L. Jackson here with dads.law, and we’re going to continue talking about how to interpret your decree.
So other things, how is a court going to interpret… Let’s say that there is terms about custody exchange. How does the court interpret the window of time in which custody exchange should occur? How long do you have to wait? What’s reasonable? Well the answer is, what’s reasonable is typically going to be dependent on the situation.
If, for example, custody exchange occurs fairly close to each person’s home and the person doesn’t show up within 15 to 20 minutes to visit, to pick up the kids and there’s no call, it wouldn’t be necessarily unreasonable probably in the eyes of a court if you said, “Okay, time’s up, I’m leaving.” Now if you hear from the other parent later, you may still have to give the kids over, but that is usually what would be considered a reasonable window.
If it’s a longer travel period and you know the person’s on their way and they’re just running late, you may have to wait longer. That’s maybe the case. What’s reasonable is somewhat going to depend on the particulars of your situation. The same can be said about other things like reasonable notice.
Well again, that could be dependent on what we’re giving notice of. Reasonable notice of a relocation under the relocation statute is minimum of 30 days. Unless you really can’t give 30 days notice. In some other cases, reasonable notice may be a few hours. It just depends. And that’s one of those things where when you’re looking at it, you should take it in context. And usually, what seems common sense reasonable is usually how the court will interpret it.
So you shouldn’t take it to mean something extreme. “Well, you get five minutes and if you don’t show up within a five minute window, I’m leaving and you can’t have the kids.” Or, “Well, you didn’t notify me far enough in advance that you were taking the kid to the ER.” Obviously these are things where reasonable notice is relative to what it is you’re doing.
And if you have any questions about that and need a divorce lawyer in Tulsa, please feel free to get a hold of us through dads.law where fathers are not disposable, and we’re always happy to advise you as to how your decree or order might be interpreted.