How Do the Buffalo Family Courts Decide on Child Visitation Rights?
I am regularly confronted by people who are wondering how courts decide on child visitation rights. Sometimes when parties are not able to reach a resolution between them about how the children are going to spend time with both parents, you may need to seek court intervention. People are always very concerned at the start of the case about how the court would treat issues of where the children are going to reside. You may hear your attorney talking about access. Sometimes people also use the word visitation. Generally, they mean the same thing. They’re talking about where the children are going to reside primarily and then also how the time during the week and throughout the year is going to be split between the parents.
The standard that the court is using to determine where the children are going to spend their time is the best interest of the child. The children may have a lawyer assigned to represent them through that process if the court does become involved in that determination. That attorney is often called an attorney for the child or the law guardian. They will also participate in helping the court and the parties reach a resolution of where the children are going to stay. The factors that the court’s going to be looking to are generally going to be what are the party’s work schedules, what are the children’s schedules, are they in school, are they in daycare, what types of extracurricular activities are they involved in? The court is going to be looking to what the history of the family was, which parent if either parent was more of the primary parent for the children.
Generally, the court is looking to preserve what the parties did throughout the marriage moving forward. The court generally finds that stability and consistency is best for children, and that’s why they’re looking to preserve what the parties did during the marriage after the divorce. The court is always interested in making sure the children maintain a relationship with both parents through the resolution of the divorce and also keeping children safe in the resolution of a divorce. Those are the major factors in determining visitation.
Are you going through a divorce and want to know more about how courts decide on visitation? Let one of our experienced Child Custody Attorneys in Buffalo guide you.
This educational legal blog was brought to you by Rebecca Talmud, an experienced Buffalo Child Custody Attorney with a dedication to family law.