Divorces can be messy, especially when children are involved. When you go through a divorce, it will be important to understand the rights that you have regarding visitation with and custody of your children. When you know about visitation rights, you will often be better equipped to make the ideal decision for the care of your children following your divorce. Here are a few of the things that you need to know about visitation rights.
Differences Between Custody and Visitation Rights

Custody and visitation rights are two different things. In general, it is the noncustodial parent that will seek out visitation rights. Custody refers to the designated rights and responsibilities that are associated with caring for your children. Visitation, alternatively, refers to how each parent will spend time with the children. When a parent has the children for less than half of the time, it is likely that they will be searching for visitation rights.
Visitation According to a Schedule
There are many different types of visitation. Understanding the different types can prepare you to make a better decision regarding the visitation rights for your children. When you have visitation according to a schedule, the visitation details will be scheduled. This will include specific dates and times that are designated for each parent to spend time with the children. This visitation type may include specifics regarding holidays, vacations, and special occasions. One of the major benefits of visitation according to a schedule is that they help to prevent conflicts and confusion. This often ensures a much more amicable relationship when one parent is awarded visitation rights.
Reasonable Visitation
Reasonable visitation is often a type of visitation that is decided specifically between each party. This kind of visitation doesn’t require nearly as many details as other types of visitation. They are open-ended schedules, which can help to ensure that they are much more flexible. It is important to keep in mind that reasonable visitation will require effective communication between each party. When the parties regularly run into disagreements regarding visitation, they may want to consider obtaining visitation according to a schedule.
Supervised Visitation
Supervised visitation is a type of visitation that is used when there is the possibility that the children’s safety and well being may be at risk during visitation. However, it is important to note that in some situations, supervised visitation will be used when the parent and child aren’t familiar with each other and need some time to become comfortable before visitations can be unsupervised. With supervised visitation, the visitation may be supervised by you, another adult, or a professional agency. You may need to work with a court in order to obtain supervised visitation, which can help to set specific standards and regulations in place to protect your children.
No Visitation
In some situations, a court may decide that it will be in the best interest of the children to not provide visitation rights to one party in the divorce. If visitation would be physically or emotionally harmful to the children, it is likely that the court will revoke visitation rights. It is important to keep in mind that a court’s primary concern regarding custody and visitation rights will be the well-being of your children.
Court Considerations
There are many considerations that the court will take into account when they determine custody or visitation rights during a divorce. For one thing, they will consider the age of the children. At certain stages of development, a child will have different needs. The court will also generally consider the health of the children and the emotional ties that are formed between each parent and the children. They will also consider the parent’s ability to care for the child. If one parent has the resources to care for the children and the other doesn’t, this will be something that the court will look into carefully. They will also pay attention to any past history of abuse, both between the parents and in relation to the children. These are all factors that the court will consider when they are determining what course of action will be best for the children.
Do you Need a Court Order?
Court orders aren’t always necessary regarding visitation rights, but they can be particularly beneficial. When you have an agreement with the other party, this agreement will be binding, even when it hasn’t necessarily been written. However, you will likely have little legal recourse if one person violates the agreement between the parties. The court is unable to enforce the agreement until a court order has been created. In these cases, you may need to work with a court to provide more security regarding your custody and visitation right arrangement.
At the Rocky Mountain Law Office, we strive to provide you with the appropriate guidance to ensure the best outcome for your divorce process. When it comes to visitation rights and custody agreements, it will be critical to ensure that you work with a lawyer to provide yourself with protection throughout the process. To learn more about the important information that you need to know about visitation rights, contact us at the Rocky Mountain Law Office today.