>I am building an application where one form is released using the command thisform.release and then another form is run. This continues in a circular arrangement. At the end of several cycles back and forth I have quite a few forms open.
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>I have used this approach successfully on past projects but something is different here. Anyone have any idea what will keep the forms from releasing

Probably the form you're calling is modal, which means VFP won't hit the thisform.release line in the first form until the second form is released.