Digging deeper into visitation issues in California

Visitation rights are a common issue when a family is going through a divorce. Parents are required to resolve the issue of child custody. In California, visitation is an issue that is always worked out during the child custody process. The court uses many different visitation schedules to find the one most suitable to an individual child custody situation.

When a child lives with one parent most of the time, the non-custodial parent is typically awarded visitation rights. Visitation rights are achieved through orders granted by a judge. A family law judge can grant visitation, supervised visitation or no visitation. Under California family law, a visitation order is awarded to a parent who spends less scheduled time with children. A visitation plan consists of an arrangement and schedules outlining when the non-custodial parent can visit the child. Both parents should mutually agree upon visitation plans to avoid further conflict and confusion.

On the other hand, supervised visitation is different because the court usually requires that a predetermined supervising adult or professional agency accompany the child during visitation with this non-custodial parent. Supervised visitation is often ordered when child safety welfare agencies require it, or when the parent and the child need an adjustment period to be comfortable visiting one another.

In some cases, a judge can assign a no visitation order to the other parent, meaning that a parent has no right to visit or spend time with the child. This is usually imposed when the court is particularly concerned with the safety of the children when in the presence of the parent. And because the best interests of the children are the basis of child custody decisions, visitation may not always support those interests.

Source: FindLaw.com “Visitation Rights in California,” Accessed Sept. 9, 2014