Many Tennessee divorced parents have primary physical custody of their children, and the other parent may be granted visitation as specified by the court. After a custody case has been decided, custodial parents are not free to cut the other parent out of their children’s lives for good. Each parent has a duty to foster a healthy relationship between the children and the other parent. Failure to do so can result in the case being brought back to court.
The case between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt highlights the importance of this. Jolie has been ordered by a judge to foster the children’s relationship with their father or risk losing primary custody. She was previously ordered to share the cellphone numbers for each of the couple’s six children with their father and has been banned from reading messages sent to the children by him.
Interfering with visitation and communication with the other parent can adversely affect the custodial parent’s rights. In some cases, a court may order that primary physical custody be changed when the non-custodial parent can prove that he or she would be able to foster a better relationship.
A family law attorney may be able to assist parents who are struggling to co-parent their children with an ex-spouse because of the other parent’s interference. An attorney may be able to assist clients build a case to demonstrate by testimony and other evidence that a changed circumstance has occurred so as to warrant a change in the child custody order and that such change is in the children’s best interests.
