Florida parents who are no longer together have certain rights when it comes to their minor children. If one party is a non-custodial parent, they often get visitation rights.
How visitation is determined
When one parent is given physical and legal custody of the child, the court often awards visitation rights to the non-custodial parent. Visitation is actually considered a privilege instead of a right. Depending on the circumstances, a non-custodial parent might be denied visitation but still ordered to pay child support to the custodial parent.
Sometimes, visitation is determined through an agreement between the parents. However, if they are unable to reach an accord, the court will decide on visitation itself. The court considers what’s in the child’s best interests and will often take the child’s wishes into account if they are old enough and the circumstances are appropriate.
Non-custodial parents and visitation rights
With many families, the father is the non-custodial parent who receives visitation, but this is not always the case. Depending on the factors of the case, the court sometimes awards physical and legal custody to the father while the mother is the non-custodial parent.
The non-custodial parent can be awarded the right to visitation with their child and the right to maintain regular contact with the child through other means such as phone calls, texts, video chats and emails. The parent can also has the right to know about the activities their child is involved in and has the right to partake in them.
The custodial parent cannot interfere in the visitation rights of the non-custodial parent unless they have legitimate concerns about the child’s safety. However, in certain situations, supervised visitation may be ordered and the visitation order could be modified by the court.