California court order (custody) applicable in UK? Advice would be appreciated...

[califinoxford]

I have lived in the UK for nearly 4 years with my daughter. I have always had full legal custody of her and have travelled back to the USA twice each year for visitation (as per the court order). My ex has never traveled here although the court order allows him to have visitation twice each year here. He has now relocated in the UK and is expecting visitations to take place. Our daughter, now 8, is afraid of him and his being closer (still lives 6 hours away though). All visits are supervised (again by court order).

I'm curious if anyone has any legal experience as to whether or not I am required to visit twice/year as our court order is very specific on 'traveling to the USA' for visits. It was based also on us visiting my family, etc.

I spoke to an attorney in the USA and they advised me to go to the courts here to enforce the order, but I'm not sure I want it enforced. Shouldn't my ex have to go to the courts to get the order modified if he wants to see our daughter? Also, any ideas as to what age a child can say they don't want the visits? She is adamant to not see him and has ignored him for the past 2 years at visits. He just assumes that now that he is geographically closer they will have a relationship. He's never acknowledged holidays with cards/gifts, yet he states that he is 'her father and she just has to get used to him.'

Any advice or experiences would be helpful. Thank you.

[ValarMorghulis]

The childs veiws will always be taken into consideration, but obviously it depends on the individual child and to their level of comprehension as to how much the court will base their opinion on what they have said.

I would imagine that if an American court has already granted access then the UK court would be loath to refuse it without good reason.

Why does your daughter feel frightened of him? is it purely because she doesn't know him very well?