Also known as:rights of visitation · visitation right · visitation rights · right to visitation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An entitlement allowing a noncustodial parent or other qualified person to maintain contact with a child. The right is subject to the presumption that fit parents act in the child's best interests and may be limited or denied only upon a showing that visitation would seriously endanger the child's physical, mental, moral, or emotional health.
Sources & Authorities
How it applies
Common Examples
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Third-Party Petition Over Parental Objection
Elena, a fit custodial parent, objects when three former tutors petition for scheduled visitation with her son under a state statute permitting any person to seek visitation based solely on a judge's best-interests finding. The court must give special weight to Elena's decision rather than independently substituting its own best-interests judgment. Because the statute authorizes visitation without that deference, the order granting visitation violates Elena's due process rights.
Unwed Father's Visitation Claim
An unwed biological father who never established a substantial relationship with his child seeks visitation after the mother places the child for adoption. The state statute limits his ability to assert parental rights because he failed to register with the putative father registry. The court denies visitation because the father lacks the protected liberty interest that arises only from an established parental relationship.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Cases
Uniform Acts
Restatements
Dictionaries
Lehr v. Robertson et al.463 U.S. 248 (1983)
Surrogacy and Parental Status
A gestational surrogate and her husband seek visitation after the intended parents obtain a parentage judgment. The court must determine whether the surrogate has any protected interest in visitation. Because the intended parents are the legal parents, the surrogate's request for visitation is denied absent a statutory basis or constitutional claim.
Johnson v. Calvert851 P.2d 776, cert. denied, 510 U.S. 874, and cert. dismissed sub nom. Baby Boy J. v. Johnson, 510 U.S. 938 (1993)
Modification of Existing Visitation
After a divorce decree grants the noncustodial parent alternating weekends, the custodial parent seeks to restrict visitation because of the child's declining school performance. The court may modify the order only if it finds that continued visitation would seriously endanger the child's physical, mental, moral, or emotional health. Absent such a finding, the existing visitation schedule remains in force.
Taylor v. Taylor353 Ark. 69, 80, 110 S.W.3d 731, 737 (2003)
Stepfather Seeking Visitation
A stepfather who lived with the child for several years petitions for visitation after the biological mother remarries and cuts off contact. The court recognizes that the stepfather developed a substantial relationship but must still respect the biological mother's rights as a fit parent. Visitation is denied because the statute does not grant an independent right to a nonparent absent a showing of harm to the child.
Quilloin v. Walcott434 U.S. 246, 255 (1978)
Putative Father Under Marital Presumption
A man claiming to be the biological father of a child born during the mother's marriage to another man seeks visitation. The state statute presumes the husband is the father and limits the putative father's ability to establish paternity or obtain visitation. The court upholds the statute because the biological father has no constitutionally protected right to visitation when the marital presumption applies.
Michael H. v. Gerald D.491 U.S. 110 (1989)
Common questions
Frequently Asked
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Does a fit parent's objection automatically defeat a third-party visitation petition?+
A fit parent's decision receives special weight under the Due Process Clause. A court may not override that decision based solely on its own independent best-interests determination. The statute must require deference to the parent's choice before visitation can be ordered over objection.
Supporting sources
When may a court modify an existing visitation order?+
A court may modify visitation whenever modification serves the child's best interests. It may not restrict visitation unless it finds after a hearing that visitation would seriously endanger the child's physical, mental, moral, or emotional health.
Does an unwed biological father always have a right to visitation?+
An unwed father possesses a protected liberty interest only when he has established a substantial relationship with the child. Absent that relationship, the state may limit or deny visitation without violating due process.
Supporting sources
505 U.S. 833, 112 S. Ct. 2791, 120 L. Ed. 2d 674 (1992)Constitutional Law
…is no stronger than the record in Michael H. v. Gerald D. , 491 U. S. 110 (1989), where the plurality found no fundamental right to visitation privileges by an adulterous father, or in Bowers v. Hardwick , 478 U. S. 186 (1986), where the Court found no fundamental right to engage in homosexual sodomy, or in a case involving the…