Womens Rights: Child Visitation Issues

Whichever spouse has primary custody of the marital children, male or female, the other spouse, male or female, without primary custody or the “Non Custodial Parent” will usually have court designated visitation rights. Visitation rights are legal rights allowing a non custodial parent to spend some time with his or her children within a fixed schedule that has been predetermined and agreed upon by both custodial and non custodial parents. Today many non custodial parents will use “virtual visitation” to help them stay in touch with their kids on almost a day to day basis. Parents can use email, instant messaging, cell phones and web cams to stay electronically close to everything their kids are doing everyday. This may be a concern for the parent having the privacy of their home invaded by web cams and cell phone pictures and anything else the market can produce if there is a difficult divorce action on, but if things are agreeable between the parents, it is a great way to visit children of a divorce without actually taking the child out of his customary environment.

Court Involvement in Child Visitation Arrangements

Most States have pre-set guidelines on the minimum amount of time a non custodial parent must be allowed to spend with his children. The first step is to ask at your State’s Probate and Family Court Department to be provided with a copy of the guidelines or where you can access a copy of the guidelines in the law library in the court house or similar sources. When one parent has been given primary custody of the children by the court, the court may order that the primary custodial spouse allow the non custodial spouse “reasonable visitation” or “generous visitation” with the children. It is in the best interests of the children to be able to freely visit with the non custodial spouse in the absence of any genuine reason to the contrary such as child or spousal abuse or a similar problem.

Getting Legal Help

If you or a member of your family is divorces and experiencing severe post divorce problems with a custodial or a non custodial parent concerning the withholding child visitation rights or a non custodial parent acting irresponsibly during visits with the children it may be important to contact a divorce attorney to discuss the visitation situation and related concerns and the best interests of the children. An attorney can protect the rights of the parent and the children by taking the legal step necessary to do so.

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