I have a problem where when I call a modeless form from another modeless form, the called form is drawn behind the calling form.

This is not natice behavior. I have never seen this happen.

I realise I can simply make the called form .allwaysontop or modal, but I really don't want to do eith of those things. Is there some some command or property that controls the Z depth of forms that I don't see, or is there some way to send a form to the front of the viewing plane? I also experimented with changing the form's parent, but nothing will make it show up in front of the calling form.

Try this inthe Activate of your form class:

Thisform.AlwaysOnTop = .T.
Thisform.AlwaysOnTop = .F.