Hi! I feel like this might not be a huge issue to other people, but it is for me personally. My ex and I have agreed on no corporal punishment for our son, and I started to notice behavior in my son that signified he was being punished that way by someone. I asked my ex about it, and he just blatantly told me that he did it, but it’s in our court order that neither of us are allowed to. Our son is only 2 years old, so there’s no way I agree with that. It’s a temporary order right now, and I’m not sure if there’s anything I can do to stop this. We have our final hearing in a couple of months. Advice would be appreciated, thank you!
Send the text messages from your ex to your attorney. You can seek a contempt order, supervised visitation, or, as someone else pointed out, a motion to enforce. Don’t worry about the definition of corporal punishment. Just file your motions, put your evidence on the record, and let the judge decide.
If you have an order (even temp), you could file an enforcement of that order. Are you representing yourself? What proof do you have of the violation (text or just he said/she said)?
I have a lawyer, and he texted me and told me that he hits our son sometimes. He tried to defend himself by saying that our court order states ‘reasonable discipline is okay for both parties,’ but it also states ‘no corporal punishment,’ which means we’re not supposed to be hitting our son.
Send those messages to your lawyer and tell them you want to enforce the order. Your lawyer can tell you if it’s worth your time (some judges are pro corporal punishment/“parents rights” and won’t take it as seriously as others).
Define corporal punishment?
I don’t understand the downvotes. This is a valid and pretty important question if folks are going to give good advice.
Because there is a finite definition for corporal punishment.
I mean hitting of any kind. I don’t agree with hitting a child. Especially my 2-year-old.
You have proof he’s hitting the child, I presume? The kids saying he’s doing it might work, but it would probably take a CPS investigation to uncover and be credible enough for the court.
I do have proof in text messages. I noticed that my son started to scream at our dog and threaten to hit her, which made me suspect something was happening. I asked him if someone was hitting our son, and he admitted to it.
I’d probably file for a change of custody if that’s the case. Depending on what he’s doing, it could fall into the child abuse side of the law. Was this an issue in the past and that’s why there’s a no corporal punishment clause in the parenting plan?