My ex-spouse won't let me see our children. How can I get the court to enforce our visitation agreement?

When a court awards visitation rights, the agreement that they create is legally binding. If your former spouse will not abide by this agreement, he or she is breaking the law. You have a few options for dealing with this problem:

• You can go back to court and have your spouse held in contempt. You'll need to have specific proof of the times and dates when your spouse has not followed the agreement. When you convince the court the agreement is not being followed, your spouse can be fined or even (rarely) jailed for not following the rules. In some cases, the court will also change a custody agreement if one parent is continually violating the rules
• You can have a sheriff or other law enforcement agent compel your spouse to turn the child over to you. This will require you to have a clearly written agreement in place that specifies exactly when and how long you have access to the child
• In rare cases, if your spouse attempts to flea to a different state or country with your child, you can have your spouse arrested for parental kidnapping. This is a serious charge that likely will result in jail time.

Whatever method you choose to enforce your visitation rights, the key is that you do so legally and that you have as much evidence as you possibly can. You do not want to try to take matters into your own hands, or do things like withholding child support because your spouse is withholding visits, as this can land you in legal trouble to. 

The best thing to do for yourself when you are in this situation is to call a lawyer. A lawyer will know how best to proceed under the laws where you live and can assist you in resolving the matter as quickly as possible.