What happens if one parent refuses to comply with a parenting coordinator's decision?

What happens next depends heavily on how the parenting coordination arrangement was set up, since the coordinator's own authority to enforce a decision is usually limited. If the parenting coordination agreement was incorporated into, or is otherwise connected to, a court order, non-compliance with a coordinator's binding decision can potentially be raised with the court, including through a motion or, in serious cases, a contempt motion, similar to how other order breaches are addressed. Where the arrangement is purely a private agreement without that court connection, enforcement options can be more limited and may depend on what the agreement itself says about non-compliance.

This is exactly why it matters, before entering a parenting coordination agreement, to understand how a refusal to comply will actually be addressed, rather than assuming the coordinator's decision is automatically as enforceable as a court order. A parent facing repeated non-compliance from the other parent should raise it with the coordinator first, since many agreements have their own escalation steps, and get legal advice on further options if the pattern continues.