Family Law

San Jose Family Attorney Discusses Visitation after Seperation

By Scott Sagaria

San Jose Family Attorney Discuses Visitation Issues after Separation

If you have recently separated from your spouse, or if you are considering it, one of the issues that will be of concern to you is how much you will be seeing your children. First, you should seek the cousnel of a San Jose Divorce Attorney. It is important to remember that until either party goes to court for custody and visitation orders there will be no enforceable orders regarding these issues. That means you cannot call the police to enforce any verbal agreements with the other parent. If the other parent is denying you visitation and contact with the children you should file a motion with the court as soon as possible to request access to your children. The longer you go without visiting with your children the more difficult it will be to be granted extensive visitation.

It is also important to consider how much visitation you want with the children and also how much visitation you want the other parent to have. If it becomes necessary to go to court to decide custody and visitation issues the court will generally grant orders based on the status quo. This means if you see the kids every other weekend then the court may only grant you visitation every other weekend. Therefore it is important to maintain as much contact with your children after separation if you would like to be the parent with primary custody or if you would like to have an equal parenting arrangement. If you have concerns about the other parent?s judgment and/or their parenting skills then you should not agree to them having extensive time with that parent or your concerns will not look credible in court.

If your case does require going to court because you and the other parent cannot agree then it is especially important to keep a log of visitation. That should include who has the children when, if they are returned late, and any other concerns that are noticed such as kids not being fed or bathed.

Our team of Monterey Family Law Attorneys can assist you with all aspects of child custody and visitation whether it is part of a divorce action or a paternity matter. We also have attorneys in Alameda and San Jose Counties who can assist with all aspects of your family law cases.

Full post as published by California Family Law Blog on January 11, 2008 (boomark / email).