>Actually, the problem is that I am NOT getting any message and need a way to notify the user that there is a problem with the date... Right now it just sits there with the invalid date and I have no way to tell the user that it is not valid, but I also can't leave the field!

Even when you leave it empty ? If so try putting a return .t. in valid to isolate if it's class valid code blocking it (assuming not a base class).
Cetin