A visitation plan creates a plan for how divorcing parents will share time with their children. When a parent has less than half of their time with the child, they have visitation. Because visitation agreements can be different, divorcing parents should understand how visitation is determined.
Different types of visitation arrangements
Visitation is based on a variety of factors including what is in the best interests of the child and the situation of the parents. The different types of visitation include:
- A visitation schedule: in general, having a detailed visitation schedule is helpful for both the children and parents. A detailed visitation plan can prevent conflicts and confusion. A visitation schedule can detail dates and times the children will spend with each parent and can include holidays, special occasions, birthdays, mother’s and father’s days and vacations.
- Reasonable visitation: reasonable visitation does not necessarily specify when the child will be with each parent but instead allows the parents to work together to achieve reasonable visitation. This option is best for parents who get along well, are flexible and can communicate well with one another. This type of visitation can lead to disagreements, misunderstandings and conflict.
- Supervised visitation: supervised visitation is used when there are concerns about the well-being and safety of the child that requires the visitation to be supervised. It may be supervised by the other parent, another adult or a professional agency.
- No visitation: there may be no visitation with one of the parents, even supervised visitation with the parent, if one of the parents is physically or emotionally harmful. There may not be visitation if the family law court determines it is not in the best interests of their child for there to be visitation.
Child custody and visitation are an important concern for many parents during divorce. Understanding different visitation plans can help parents develop a child custody arrangement that works best for their child.