Child Visitation Lawyers in Santa Ana Helping Clients Protect Their Parental Rights
As a parent, there’s nothing more challenging than fighting for the right to see your children. After a divorce or breakup, it’s possible that your child’s other parent may get majority or sole custody, leaving you with little time to spend with your kids. Setting up a visitation schedule and advocating for your visitation rights allows you to see your children regularly as their parent. Unfortunately, child visitation can be a complex issue requiring a professional attorney’s help.
Our team at Sarieh Law Offices, ALC, has years of experience helping clients establish visitation schedules with their children. If you want to fight for the right to see your kids, don’t hesitate to reach out. Our lawyers will review your case and develop a legal strategy to protect your parental rights so you can see your children often. Call us today at 714-694-7723 for a free consultation.
What is a Non-Custodial Parent?
A custodial parent is the parent the children live with most of the time. If you are not the custodial parent, you will be labeled “non-custodial parent.” However, the non-custodial parent is still entitled to visitation with their children. The court understands how important it is for both parents to maintain a relationship with their kids, even if the children do not live with both parents.
If you are a non-custodial parent, you must begin fighting for your visitation rights immediately. Some judges look poorly at parents who wait too long to fight for the right to see their children. Even if you have already delayed a bit, you can still compensate for lost time. Reach out to an attorney on our team today to learn how you can advocate for your rights and set up a visitation schedule.
How Does Custody Impact Visitation Rights?
In a custody agreement, a judge will often issue either joint custody or sole custody. In joint custody, both parents work together to make decisions about the children’s lives. Issues like education, child care, medical procedures, and extracurricular activities must be made collaboratively as a team. In sole custody, only one parent is the decision-maker for the children.
However, it’s important to note that even if the other parent has sole custody, you still have a right to visitation. Although you may not be entitled to make decisions about education or healthcare needs, parents always have the right to see their kids. In most cases, courts will attempt to award visitation rights as close to 50% as possible, depending on the geographic location and school district. Visitation interference, or a parent not letting another parent visit their children, may be considered a crime based on the circumstances of your case.
How is Visitation Granted?
In most child custody cases, judges will order visitation schedules and establish how much time each parent spends with their children. When creating this schedule, a judge will typically factor in details about the case and custody.
Factors a court will generally take into account can include:
- Living conditions of the non-custodial parent
- How long the non-custodial parent waited before advocating for visitation
- Whether the non-custodial parent has had overnight alone time with the child
- Whether the non-custodial parent has spent time with the child in the past
- Any history of abuse by the non-custodial parent
- The geographic location of the non-custodial parent
- Age and health of the child
- Emotional ties between the parents and the child
- The child’s links to their school and home
- Any regular or ongoing substance abuse by either parent
In most cases, a judge cannot consider whether the non-custodial parent has paid their child support, whether they are employed, or whether they are remarried. If you would like to fight for visitation rights, call our team today. We will review your circumstances and craft a compelling case to present to the judge to prove you deserve visitation.
What Types of Visitation Are There?
If a judge does order visitation, also called parenting time, they may assign a few different options.
Generally, there are four main types of visitation:
- Scheduled visitation: A set schedule helps both parents maintain a timeline for when the child will be where. Parents may schedule special occasions, holidays, and vacations.
- Reasonable visitation: Reasonable visitation orders are more open-ended and allow parents to work out visitation schedules between them. These visitation orders work well when both parents get along and can communicate respectfully with each other.
- Supervised visitation: Supervised visitation is generally only implemented when there are concerns about the child’s safety. Visitation may be supervised by a parent, another adult, or a third-party agency. Supervised visitation may also be required if a parent has not seen their child in a long time and needs to become familiar with them.
- No visitation: As its name implies, no visitation is granted if visitation would be harmful to the child. Harm can be both physical and emotional.
How Can a Child Visitation Lawyer Help Me?
In any child custody case, the court will attempt to do what is best for the child’s well-being. In most cases, allowing each parent to see their children is the best way to maintain healthy relationships and disrupt the child’s life as little as possible. Advocating for visitation rights is the best way to see your children often, even after a divorce or a breakup.
Regardless of your custody situation, our team at Sarieh Law Offices, ALC, is here to help. We will review your case, create a solid legal strategy to protect your rights in court and plead your case before a judge. Whether you want to create a visitation schedule or modify your current visitation, our team is here to assist you. Call us today at 714-694-7723 to learn more about what we can do for you.
