Missed Visitations: Understanding Consequences and Solutions
So what happens if you miss a couple of weekends of visitation?
Hi, my name is Carl Birkhead. I’m a Tulsa family law attorney with the Wirth Law Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’ve been practicing family and criminal law for eight years, and I want to help make the law easy by explaining what happens if you have to miss your scheduled visitation time.
Factors Influencing the Consequences of Missed Visitations
Like many legal questions, the answer is: it depends. It depends on why you missed. Were you sick? Did you have to work? Was there a family emergency? Or were you simply prioritizing something else, like social plans? The reason matters.
The good news is that missing the occasional weekend is usually not going to harm your case or cause you to lose visitation rights. Missing two or three weekends in a row is also not automatically grounds for the other parent to take you to court and strip you of visitation.
When Missed Visits Become a Pattern
However, if missed visits become a pattern—if you’re consistently unavailable for your children—the court may conclude that you’re prioritizing other things over your parental responsibilities. Over time, that can hurt your custody or visitation rights.
The best thing you can do is communicate. If you need to miss a visit, please notify your co-parent and provide a brief explanation. You don’t need to provide a detailed account of your schedule, but a simple, “I won’t be able to make it this weekend because of work,” goes a long way. Clear communication not only eases tension with your co-parent but also helps when your child inevitably asks, “Why didn’t mom or dad come to see me?” That’s a question no parent wants to leave unanswered.
Contact Us for a Strategy Session
Whenever possible, please do not miss your visitation time. If you’ve missed visits or if your co-parent has been missing theirs and you want to know what the consequences might be, give me a call.
My name is Carl Birkhead and I’m a Tulsa child custody attorney with the Wirth Law Office, and I want to help you make law easy.
For a low-cost initial strategy session, call us today at 918-879-1681. Let’s work together to protect your visitation rights and ensure the best outcome for your family.
