A woman at the center of a legal dispute with her former partner defied a court order to give up custody of her 7-year-old daughter on Friday, a lawyer said.

A judge in Vermont had ordered the woman, Lisa Miller, to turn over her daughter, Isabella, to Janet Jenkins at 1 p.m. at the home of Ms. Jenkins’s parents in Falls Church, Va.

Ms. Miller did not show up with the girl, said Sarah Star, Ms. Jenkins’s lawyer.

The Jenkins family called the police, and a detective is investigating, said Officer Tawny Wright, a Fairfax County police spokeswoman. For the time being, Officer Wright said, the case remains a civil matter.

Ms. Miller and Ms. Jenkins were joined in a civil union in Vermont in 2000. Isabella was born to Ms. Miller through artificial insemination in 2002. The couple broke up in 2003, and Ms. Miller moved to Virginia, renounced homosexuality and became an evangelical Christian.