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New Jersey Visitation Lawyers
Dedicated Family Lawyers Help You Secure Visitation Rights with Your Children in New Jersey
Even when you and your former spouse or partner separate, you still want to remain a major part of your children’s lives, even if you don’t receive physical custody of your children. In New Jersey, even if only one parent is awarded physical custody of children, courts will still usually award the other parent visitation rights, also known in New Jersey as parenting time. If a parent has a history of domestic violence, substance abuse, or questions about fitness to parent, visitation can often be a first step toward a parent securing greater custody rights.
When you are seeking to spend time with your children and be a part of their development, the New Jersey family lawyers of Team Law can help you secure visitation or parenting time rights. Contact our firm today to schedule a confidential case review to talk to one of our knowledgeable attorneys about your legal rights and options.
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Factors for Granting Visitation in New Jersey
When courts in New Jersey are considering a custody arrangement that may include visitation for one parent, the overriding concern for the court is whether the arrangement is in the child’s best interests; the rights of a parent to spend time with and parent his or her child come second. In determining the child’s best interests, courts will consider factors such as:
- The parents’ ability to agree and cooperate on parenting issues
- Each parent’s willingness to accept the custody arrangement
- Any history by either parent of not allowing visitation or parenting time for reasons other than substantiated abuse
- The child’s relationship and interaction with parents and siblings
- Any history of domestic violence by either parent
- The need to maintain the child’s or parent’s safety from physical abuse by the other parent
- The child’s preferences, if he or she is old enough and mature enough to express a reasoned preference
- The ages and number of children
- The child’s needs
- The stability of each parent’s home environment
- The quality and continuity of the child’s education
- Each parent’s ability and fitness to parent
- How close the parents live to one another
- The extent and quality of the time each parent spent with the child prior to and since the parents’ separation
- Each parent’s employment responsibilities
Courts may decide to award visitation, as opposed to an arrangement of shared or joint physical custody, in cases where there are concerns about a parent’s availability to spend time with the child, if the parent’s living environment is not suitable for overnight periods of custody, where there is a history of domestic violence or substance abuse by a parent, or where there are other questions about the parent’s ability and fitness to parent. In addition, courts may also order that visitation be supervised by a trusted family member or a third-party such as a social worker.
The Attorneys at Team Law Will Fight to Protect Your Parental Rights
At Team Law, we believe that every parent should have the opportunity to be a part of their children’s lives. If you are seeking to have visitation rights or parenting time with your children, our attorneys are ready to advocate for your rights. We can help you negotiate with your former spouse or partner for visitation or parenting time rights when establishing an initial custody arrangement. We can also help you prepare a petition with the court to modify the existing custody order to secure visitation rights or additional parenting time for yourself.
Our attorneys can help you understand your rights and options when it comes to custody and visitation rights, including advising you if the court seeks to impose conditions on your visitation time, such as a requirement that your visitation be supervised by a family member or a third party. When you have questions about your rights or need help getting time to spend with you children, our experienced child custody and visitation attorneys can help you.
Get Advice From An Experienced New Jersey Family Law Attorney. All You Have To Do Is Call 1-800-TEAM-LAW To Receive Your Confidential Case Evaluation.
Contact a New Jersey Visitation Attorney at Team Law Today to Schedule a Confidential Consultation
If you are contesting the issue of visitation in a child custody dispute between you and your child’s other parent, you need experienced legal representation to help you fight for your child’s best interests. Schedule a confidential case review with the New Jersey child custody attorneys at Team Law today to discuss your legal rights and options and to learn more about how we can help you arrive at a visitation schedule that protects your parental rights and serves your child’s best interests.
Frequently Asked Questions about Visitation in New Jersey
A supervised visitation is a period of parenting time in which the parent exercising visitation must remain within the supervision of a third party approved by the court, sometimes a family member but occasionally a social worker or other professional. Supervised visitation may be ordered by the court when there are concerns about a parent’s ability to safely exercise his or her parenting time (such as if a parent has a history of substance abuse or domestic violence) or there are concerns about a parent’s inappropriate behavior with his or her child (such as disparaging the other parent in front of the child or discussing child custody or other legal matters between the parents).
Although terms like visitation, parenting time, and physical custody may sometimes be used interchangeably, with physical custody, a child is in the physical care and control of the parent exercising custody. Conversely, if a parent is exercising visitation time, the child may be considered to remain in the other parent’s physical custody; that means that the parent may not go anywhere with the child (especially long distances) without the custodial parent’s knowledge and consent. However, a parent exercising a period of physical custody may be free (subject to other limitations set forth in a custody agreement or court order) to take his or her child wherever he or she and the child wish to go.
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