Child Visitation Dispute Attorneys in Orange County California
When creating a child visitation order, a judge needs to determine the best interests of the child in question. However, in some cases, disputes arise regarding visitation rights of the noncustodial parent, or even of grandparents. These cases are handled in family court or in juvenile court, and require the assistance of a compassionate Orange County area child visitation lawyer.
Family Dispute Resolution in California
In California, the Family Dispute Resolution Program (FDR) is responsible for training, providing technical assistance, and consulting and supporting court programs for families that are involved in child custody and visitation disputes.
Basics of a Visitation Order Dispute in Southern California
When one parent has custody of a child, the other parent may be granted visitation rights. These may be supervised visitations, or unsupervised visitations, they may be for hours at a time or overnight. Each visitation order is issued separately and customized to each family’s unique situation. A visitation order, like a child custody order, is issued based on the best interests of the child.
When unsupervised visitation is granted by the judge, a dispute may arise because the parent with sole physical custody of the children may feel that it is in the best interest of the child to have supervised visits only.
Supervised visitation may be issued for several reasons:
• When there is a reason to believe that the parent with visitation rights may abduct the child,
• When the parent is suspected of substance abuse or mental illness, or is otherwise incapable of caring for the child on their own,
• To allow the child and parent to get acquainted when there is no established relationship between the two,
• When there have been allegations of domestic violence, abuse, neglect, or substance abuse.
However, if these allegations are untrue, or if the noncustodial parent is trying to change, they may dispute the supervised visitation order.
Either party in this case should have a skilled family law attorney with experience handling child custody and visitation disputes on their side.
A Grandparent’s Right to Visitation with a Grandchild in California
Grandparents may also have a right to claim visitation with their grandchild under certain circumstances. A grandparent has the obligation to prove that it is in the child’s best interests to continue an existing relationship in order to be granted visitation rights.
Grandparents cannot usually claim visitation rights while the parents are married except under certain circumstances, but in the case that they have already been granted, a parent may wish to dispute a grandparent’s right to visitation.
Orange County Visitation Dispute Attorney
At Yanez & Associates, our compassionate family law attorneys understand that when it comes to your child, your custody and visitation agreements are of utmost importance, and should not be handled lightly. If you’re facing a visitation dispute, contact us today to schedule your free consultation.