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What if your ex-spouse violates your visitation agreement?

Even after a Clarksville family court approves the dissolution of your marriage, you and your ex-spouse may continue to have to work together on a number of different issues. One of these may be the custody of your kids. Should your ex-spouse choose to ignore the details of your custody agreement, there may be little you can do on your own to enforce it. What sort of recourse does the law afford to you in such a situation?

If you find that your ex-spouse is consistently violating your visitation agreement, the Annotated Code of Tennessee states that you can petition that the court attempt to enforce the agreement by having his or her driver’s license suspended or revoked. However, you must show that prior to filing such a petition, you notified your ex-spouse in writing that further violations could result in court-ordered enforcement. He or she may then request a hearing to dispute your claims.

If your ex-spouse does not request a hearing and the court does find him or her to not be in compliance with your visitation agreement, it may then notify the appropriate state licensing authority of the situation. Your ex-spouse will then not be able to have his or her license reinstated until he or she provides the licensing authority with documentation confirming that the issue has been resolved.

You can refuse to turn over custody of your kids in certain situations, as well. If your ex-spouse has lost his or her driving privileges due to drug or alcohol abuse (or any other issue that would warrant a license revocation), yet he or she drives to the point of where you are scheduled to exchange custody, you are legally allowed to keep the kids from going with him or her.