Visitation Rights

Visitation is the legal term for the right of a non-custodial parent to visit and be with their children.
If you are not granted physical custody of your child, you will be given a visitation schedule.

Focus on your child and your parenting ability

Parents may tend to feel that they are inferior to the parent with physical custody, but this should not be the case. You shouldn’t let labels get the best of your better judgment. Your focus should be on your child and parenting him/her to the best of your ability.

Agree upon a suitable visitation schedule for your child

At present, courts may favor set visitation schedules in order to avoid debates over visitation time between parents. It is up to the parents to agree upon a suitable visitation schedule for their child. This schedule can be modified in the future with both parents’ consent. As long as a proper agreement has been reached by the parents, the court will not intervene.

The court may draft a schedule on its own

If both parents are not capable of reaching an agreement regarding the visitation schedule of their child, the court may draft a schedule on its own. As much as possible, you will want to come to an agreement with your former spouse regarding a visitation schedule because the schedules determined by the court are often not as flexible as either party may have wanted. Both parents must have their child in mind in order to reach a comfortable agreement for all. In the case where the court ends up deciding, the following is an example of a common schedule:

• Weekly: One evening every week with the other parent, and switching weekends every Friday-Sunday.

• Holidays: Alternating holidays between parents: Christmas Eve, Christmas day, New Year’s, Easter, Thanksgiving, Memorial day, Independence day, and Labor day. Mother’s day will be spent with the mom and Father’s day with the dad.

• Summer: A parent may have 2-4 weeks (consecutive/non-consecutive) with the child. The other parent must give a month’s prior written notice.

If a parent fails to pay child support, this may not be used as a reason to suspend his/her visitation rights. It says in MSA 518.175, Subd.1 that “a parent’s failure to pay support because of the parent’s inability to do so shall not be sufficient cause for denial of visitation.”

Make-up visitation

In the case where you are denied visitation by the other parent, the court may arrange for make-up visitation time with your child. This make-up visitation time may be the same amount or even a longer period of time with your child. The following penalty may also be imposed:

• Civil fine of $500 or less

Hope Ocampo is a staff writer for Divorce Guide, a one-stop information resource for news, articles and advice about divorce.