If you and your spouse are getting divorced or separated and there are children involved the most important task ahead of you is to decide concerning issues such as custody and visitation. Divorce breaks the bonds between husband and wife, custody breaks the bonds of parenting. It is imperative for to understand that has a right to an ongoing relationship with each parent.
Even though the trend is changing, it is true that the usual judicial attitude about awarding custody most often favors women. Many judges still feel that women are naturally better at mothering than fathers are at fathering, and these judges will always show a bias towards the mother. However, with the changing of socio-economic structure of contemporary society, fathers are starting to be recognized as having a parenting role. When a father has been given visitation rights these rights must not be interfered with.
The best case scenario is where the parents co-operate with each other to give the children lots of time with each parent. However, as is often the case, this ends in the parent who doesn't have custody, which is often the father, getting very little visitation time with his children, and many angry disputes about delayed visits and children not being ready on time. To offset such problems, many judges order the parents to devise a fairly detailed custody schedule (known as a parenting plan or parenting agreement) which sets out the visitation schedule and outlines who has responsibility for decisions affecting the children.
If you and you ex have already created a custody schedule that has formed part of the official custody decision then your visitation rights are protected by law and can be enforced by the court. Although it is reasonable that there may be various times that visitation time might need to be adapted, such as when someone gets sick, or certain appointments need to be made, or other special circumstances regular interference with visitation can even be cited as an argument that there is a change in circumstances which can lead to a modification of the custody schedule. In some states it can even be grounds for giving custody to the parent who has had their visitation rights interfered with.
To begin with, visitation schedules are simply trials. Either spouse does not know what the future will hold as far as how their parent child relationship will develop. Very often the needs of parents and children mean that the parenting plan is often modified without going to court. If one parent, however, later reneges on the agreement, it may be difficult for the other parent to enforce the modified agreement because it hasn't been ratified by the court. So it is generally advisable to obtain court approval when modifying custody or visitation terms.
If you are the non custodial parent make sure your parenting plan is very precise and detailed in when, where, and how you are allowed to spend time with your children. In most states, it is a crime to interfere with custody or visitation rights. This crime is commonly referred to as "custodial interference." The wronged parent can get assistance from law enforcement officers and can even sue the other person for damages if their custody rights are interfered with.
Some fathers make the mistake of holding back their child support payments because the mother has stopped him from seeing the children on occasions, or has made it difficult for him to spend time with them. Please don't confuse custody and visitation with child support. Despite what the mother may do, you must always pay child support. There are heavy penalties for failing to do so. Every parent has an duty to support his or her children.
One important study discovered a telling relationship between custody and visitation plans, degrees of conflict and the payment of court-ordered child support. Fathers tended to continue paying child support in situations when they had frequent daytime visits and overnight stays with their children. , the less likely they were to keep paying child support.
Even though the trend is changing, it is true that the usual judicial attitude about awarding custody most often favors women. Many judges still feel that women are naturally better at mothering than fathers are at fathering, and these judges will always show a bias towards the mother. However, with the changing of socio-economic structure of contemporary society, fathers are starting to be recognized as having a parenting role. When a father has been given visitation rights these rights must not be interfered with.
The best case scenario is where the parents co-operate with each other to give the children lots of time with each parent. However, as is often the case, this ends in the parent who doesn't have custody, which is often the father, getting very little visitation time with his children, and many angry disputes about delayed visits and children not being ready on time. To offset such problems, many judges order the parents to devise a fairly detailed custody schedule (known as a parenting plan or parenting agreement) which sets out the visitation schedule and outlines who has responsibility for decisions affecting the children.
If you and you ex have already created a custody schedule that has formed part of the official custody decision then your visitation rights are protected by law and can be enforced by the court. Although it is reasonable that there may be various times that visitation time might need to be adapted, such as when someone gets sick, or certain appointments need to be made, or other special circumstances regular interference with visitation can even be cited as an argument that there is a change in circumstances which can lead to a modification of the custody schedule. In some states it can even be grounds for giving custody to the parent who has had their visitation rights interfered with.
To begin with, visitation schedules are simply trials. Either spouse does not know what the future will hold as far as how their parent child relationship will develop. Very often the needs of parents and children mean that the parenting plan is often modified without going to court. If one parent, however, later reneges on the agreement, it may be difficult for the other parent to enforce the modified agreement because it hasn't been ratified by the court. So it is generally advisable to obtain court approval when modifying custody or visitation terms.
If you are the non custodial parent make sure your parenting plan is very precise and detailed in when, where, and how you are allowed to spend time with your children. In most states, it is a crime to interfere with custody or visitation rights. This crime is commonly referred to as "custodial interference." The wronged parent can get assistance from law enforcement officers and can even sue the other person for damages if their custody rights are interfered with.
Some fathers make the mistake of holding back their child support payments because the mother has stopped him from seeing the children on occasions, or has made it difficult for him to spend time with them. Please don't confuse custody and visitation with child support. Despite what the mother may do, you must always pay child support. There are heavy penalties for failing to do so. Every parent has an duty to support his or her children.
One important study discovered a telling relationship between custody and visitation plans, degrees of conflict and the payment of court-ordered child support. Fathers tended to continue paying child support in situations when they had frequent daytime visits and overnight stays with their children. , the less likely they were to keep paying child support.
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In some situations, one parent may use visitation as a tool to get back at the other parent. Even the smallest detail, such as transportation, can be utilized as a manipulative weapon. Visit Child Custody Information for detailed information on how child custody schedules can protect your visitation rights.
