5 Things Family Law Attorneys May Advise On For Weekend Visits

If you're involved in a custody agreement as a non-custodial parent, you might have questions about visitation. Others involved, including custodial parents and family members, might also check with a family lawyer. Rules for weekend visits can be complicated. Read on to learn more about some of the biggest things that family lawyers advise on for a weekend visit schedule.

Where Will Parties Meet?

Meeting places are an important part of visitation schedules. In many cases, the custodial parent may not wish to have meetings take place at his or her home, either because of a history of domestic violence or other concerns about emotionally driven encounters. In an agreement, a family lawyer might cover rules on neutral meeting places. These are places which will be used for transferring a child from one parent to the other.

Setting Up Meeting Schedules

Rules for weekend schedules might be as simple as looking at the personal schedules of the parents involved, or they may have to do with holiday and weekend calendar schedules. Family lawyers may help the parties agree about what's most practical – for example, meeting on weekends, or on weeknights. In general, they'll help make sure that each person's rights are acknowledged, and that their client's wishes and opinions are heard in the context of the legal agreement.

Will Visits Be Ongoing?

There are a number of factors in all sorts of custody arrangements, including weekend visit schedules. These typically have to do with the fitness of a parent to be a guardian -- their mental health history, their domestic violence history, the conditions of their homes, a history of drug abuse, or other similar factors that judges consider.

Videoconferencing, Skyping, or a Other Alternative Visitation

Some family visit schedules may include options for alternative visitation. In today's day and age, that extends to modern videoconferencing technologies like Skype and Facetime. There is the understanding that in some cases, parents can utilize a videoconferencing session in place of a visit, or that custodial parents can try to set ground rules for this type of interaction.

Grandparent Visitation and Other Family Member Visitation

Another big issue in weekend visit schedules is whether other individuals can be authorized to visit the child or children. These considerations will also factor into an overall visitation schedule as agreed upon by the parents.

These are just some of the issues that family lawyers help to set in a weekend visit agreement.

To learn more, contact a family law office like Fleishman Law Office SC


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