Also known as: visitation rights · visitation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A court-ordered privilege allowing a noncustodial parent or other designated person to spend time with a child who resides primarily with another custodian. The privilege is subject to constitutional limits that require special weight to be given to a fit parent's decisions and to statutory rules governing separation agreements and interstate enforcement.
Violet Vang, a fit parent raising her two children on an isolated farm, opposes her mother-in-law's petition for overnight visitation every other weekend. The trial court grants limited visitation after finding it would serve the children's best interests by exposing them to organized activities. On appeal the order is reversed because the court failed to accord special weight to Violet's determination as a fit parent.
Valerie Voss and her spouse draft a written separation agreement that sets a detailed visitation schedule for their two children along with property division and maintenance. The agreement is presented in the dissolution proceeding to promote an amicable resolution of all issues arising from the separation.
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Vera Vu obtains a temporary order in State A enforcing a specific visitation schedule previously entered by a court in State B. State A lacks modification jurisdiction yet issues the order to maintain the existing arrangement while the parties seek relief in the proper forum.
Vera Vargas and her former spouse submit their disagreement over parenting time to family-law arbitration under an agreement that expressly includes visitation issues. The arbitrator's award addresses the child-related dispute and is later confirmed by the court.
Vivian Velez and her spouse present a separation agreement that addresses property and maintenance but leaves custody and visitation for later judicial determination. The court treats the non-child provisions as binding after finding they are not unconscionable in light of the parties' economic circumstances.
Violet Vidal obtains a temporary enforcement order in State A that implements the visitation provisions of a child-custody determination from State B even though that determination contains no specific schedule. The order remains in effect only long enough for Violet to secure a permanent schedule from a court with proper jurisdiction.
A fit parent is entitled to a presumption that the parent's decisions serve the child's best interests. A court may not grant visitation based solely on its own best-interests determination without according special weight to the parent's judgment.
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Yes. Parties to a marriage may enter a written separation agreement that addresses support, custody, and visitation of their children in order to promote amicable settlement of disputes arising from separation or dissolution.
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A court lacking modification jurisdiction may issue a temporary order enforcing a visitation schedule made by another state's court or the visitation provisions of another state's child-custody determination that lacks a specific schedule.
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Yes. A child-related dispute includes any family-law dispute regarding visitation, and parties may agree to submit such disputes to arbitration under the Uniform Family Law Arbitration Act.
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…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…