Child Visitation Rights

If you are a parent and you are not currently with your child’s other parent, determining visitation rights early on is important. The sooner the two of you come to an agreement on visitation plans as to who gets the child when and for how long, the sooner your child will be in a stable environment.

Determining Visitation Rights

Visitation rights enable the non-custodial parent the legal right to see and spend time with his or her child. The majority of children in child custody arrangements primarily live with their mothers, though approximately 20 percent primarily live with their fathers.

In many circumstances, visitation agreements are decided between the two parents outside of court. Arrangements like these can be happy and healthy ones for the children involved, as long as the two parents stick to their initial joint custody arrangements or agree to any adjustments to it. That said, the custodial parent usually has more control over the times and dates of the visits.

Otherwise, a judge in a family child support court grants visitation rights during a child custody hearing. At the hearing, both parents will have an opportunity to have their personal case for or against visitation rights heard. In cases where to two parents are particularly hostile and cannot come to a visitation agreement, the judge may order fixed parent child visitation.

Fixed Visitation

In cases where fixed visitation has been ordered by the judge, a court parenting plan is drawn up where both parents are able to see their child during specific times on specific dates. For example, the judge could order that the mother maintain primary custody of the child, with the fathers joint custody taking over custody from 6 pm on Fridays to 8 pm on Sundays, plus Wednesday afternoons from 3 pm to 8 pm.

When Drug, Alcohol, or Physical Abuse Is Involved

In situations where there has been a past history of one parent abusing the other parent, or the child, a judge is able to deny visitation altogether. The same is true if there is a history of one parent abusing drugs or alcohol. Another option the judge has is to order supervised visitation only. With supervised visitation, the non-custodial parent is only able to see the child on a specific schedule, and only when a designated person (such as a trusted family member or social worker) is present at all times.

How Visitation Rights Are Determined

Generally speaking, the judge will usually grant "reasonable visitation" to the non-custodial parent. This is a flexible alternative, which enables both parents to work together to come to an agreement regarding visitation rights. The main drawback to "reasonable visitation" is that the custodial parent usually has most of the say as to where and when the visits will occur, which can result in the non-custodial parent not seeing the child as frequently as he or she would have otherwise preferred.

If "reasonable visitation" does not work for either party, the judge may assign a child visitation calendar. The fixed visitation schedule is determined using a number of factors, including where the parents live, where the child would prefer to live and the overall wellbeing of the child.

Visitation Rights for Grandparents

Currently, visitation rights are only granted to non-custodial parents and are not available to grandparents. Although sometimes grandparents are able to obtain primary child custody guardianship, as of now they have virtually no legal rights to visitation. The only notable exceptions involve the Visitation Rights Enforcement Act of 1998, which states that grandparents who have previously been granted visitation rights in one state are allowed to maintain those rights if the child moves to another state.

Contact a child custody attorney in your area today!