All perfect praise be to The Lord of The Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.
The rule in observing kinship ties is governed by two aspects:
One: He has observed ties with his kin by paying them a certain number of visits, some money, some gifts, or some phone calls, then stopped that vcompletely. Hence, he incurs a great sin because the Prophet(PBUH) said, "The one who severs ties of kinship will never enter paradise." {Bukhari&Muslim}.
Second: Tradition and custom:
1- If it is customary to regard one who visits his kin only in Eid as negligent, then he should do his best to make up for it and win Allah`s favour; particularly, with close kin.
2- If it isn`t customary to regard him negligent, then he is free from the liability although it is better for a Muslim to seek perfection at all times and ask for recompense from Allah, The Almighty, through maintaining kinship ties as much as possible. If he feared hardship, then he may at least call them since uttering a good word is a charity. Moreover, righteous predecessors considered one who didn`t contact his brothers or sisters every three days as negligent, so how about one who contacts his kin only once or twice a year!!!!!!. And Allah Knows Best.