I share joint custody of my daughter with my ex-husband. He has not seen her for over 2 years nor talked to her for 3 months. He doesn’t try to see her at all even when he lived 5 miles away from us. He pays child support because it is court ordered. He keeps changing addresses and cellphone numbers and I cannot get a hold of him. I have cancelled vacations before because he won’t give me authorization to take our daughter and now he wont let me get a passport for her. What can I do? Can I get sole custody WITH visitation rights? Is that ground enough to file, and if so, what are my chances of getting sole custody? I need help. :(

Generally, under most state laws, the custodial parent is allowed to take minor children on vacations without the non-custodial parent’s consent (unless the child custody order states otherwise).

Most family law courts award sole custody to a single parent on a limited basis. Depending on your existing custody order, you may be able to file for a child custody modification order if certain “qualifying” events arise pursuant to your state’s family law code (regarding child custody modification). You should contact a local attorney and inform him or her about the past events that have occurred to see if you have a viable claim for modification.