What are Visiting Rights for Fathers, and What is Child Support Used For?

Divorces get distressing, especially when it involves issues related to children. Typically, no parent wants to get separated from their child. Ultimately, in divorce, either of the parents has custody of the child, and the other has visitation rights.  

It’s the judge who makes the final decision on child custody or visitation. However, the judge may not make any decision based on gender; inste, it’s in the child’s best interest.

If the mother gets the child’s custody, then the father will have visitation. The visiting rights for fathers vary from state to state. But this right lets the father spend time and have access to the child.  

Visiting Rights of Father:

In divorce and child custody proceedings, visiting rights get awarded to the non-custodial parent. The visitation rights give the child an opportunity to have a meaningful and healthy relationship with both the parents. So, unless the situation involves complexity, it’s rare that the court will refuse visitation rights to a parent.

The visiting rights for fathers mean that the child’s biological father has the right to spent time with the child. The visiting rights for fathers include:

• The right to visit the child at a scheduled time, as mentioned in the divorce decree
• The right to schedule any activities with the child, allowed by the court and mentioned in the divorce decree
• The right to be free of the mother’s control during the visit
• The right to spend the allotted time  without any infringement
• The right to an injunction to stop the mother from taking the child out of the state
• The right to get the divorce decree modified when it’s not feasible. Click here for more information on Visiting Rights For Fathers.

Types of Visitation Orders:

Visitation orders are the plan for how the noncustodial parent will share the time with the children. The visitation schedule gets decided considering specific instead like- 

• the situation of the parents, 
• the best interest of the child
• the current job of each parent
• the location of each parent

The types of visitation include:

• Scheduled Visitation: This visitation helps the parents and the children have a detailed visitation plan to avoid any conflict and confusion. 

This type of visitation comes up with a visitation schedule detailing the dates and times that the children will spend with each parent. The program may include holidays, special occasions, and vacations.

• Reasonable Visitation: It does not necessarily include the details of when the children can spend time with each parent. Instead, it’s open-ended, allowing the parents to work it out amongst themselves. 

It’s suitable for the parents who get comfortable communicating with each other. But if there’s any disagreement, the children may suffer as a result.

• Supervised Visitation: It’s the type of visitation from which the parent having the visitation right will be supervised by you, another adult, or any professional agency. It concerns the child’s safety and well-being. 
• No visitation: It’s the option when visiting the parent. Even supervision could get physically or emotionally harmful for the child. So, considering the child’s best interest, there can’t be any contact between the child and the parent.

What is Child Support Used For?

Typically, child support is the ongoing or periodic payment done by the non-custodial parent to the custodial parent for the financial benefit of the child after the divorce. 

Child support is calculated based on certain factors: like the age of the child, the income of each parent, the needs of the child, etc. Child support can be used for:

• Necessities: food, shelter, clothing
• Medical care, including uninsured medical expenses
• Transportation/Travel
• Education expenses
• Child care expenses- nannies, daycare
• Extracurricular activities- summer camps, sports, or any other
• College expenses. Read more about What child support is used for at getlegal.com.

Summary:

Most states do not keep gender as the preference when making any decision related to the child in a divorce. The visiting rights for the father are the same as those for the mother. These rights allow the father to spend a reasonable amount of time with the child if he does not get custody. It also prevents divorce to from affecting the father-child relationship.