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If you and your partner are getting divorced or separated and you have kids, the most important task ahead of you is to decide concerning issues such as custody and visitation. Divorce breaks the bonds between husband and wife, custody breaks the bonds of parenting. It is imperative for each parent to understand that every child has a right to an ongoing relationship with both parents.

Even though the trend is changing, it is the case that the usual judicial attitude about awarding custody most often favors women. For whatever reason, it has been the precedence set in the past and traditionally many judges find it difficult to change their ways. However, with the changing of socio-economic structure of contemporary society, fathers are beginning to have a role as parents. In the case of where the father has visitation rights, these rights must not be interfered with.

In an ideal situation parents cooperate to see that the kids spend a maximum amount of time with each parent. Unfortunately, all too often this ends up with very little visitation time with the non-custodial parent, and lots of angry disputes concerning missed visits and inconvenience. To avoid such problems, numerous judges now prefer the parties to devise a considerably detailed custody schedule (known as a parenting agreement or parenting plan) which consists of a specific visitation schedule and also specifies who has responsibility for both the daily decisions and major decisions concerning the welfare of the children.

If you and you ex have already created a custody schedule that has formed part of the official custody decision then you can apply to the court to have your visitation rights enforced. Apart from times when it would be reasonable for visitation times to be changed, for example when someone gets sick, or certain appointments need to be made, or other special circumstances consistent interference with visitation can even be used as a case for change of circumstances and used to modify the custody decision and even have custody reversed.

To begin with, visitation schedules are simply trials. each parent has little idea of what changes their relationship with the child might go through as the child grows. Very often the needs of parents and children mean that the parenting plan is often modified without going to court. If one parent, however, later reneges on the agreement, it may be difficult for the other parent to enforce the modified agreement because it hasn’t been ratified by the court. So please be sure to get any modifications to the parenting plan court approved.

As a non custodial parent, your visitation schedule should contain in detail the times and days that you are allowed to spend time with your children. Most states consider it a crime to interfere with custody and visitation rights. This crime is commonly referred to as “custodial interference.” In most states, the parent deprived of custody may sue the taker for damages, as well as getting help from the police.

One area that fathers must be careful in is stopping child support payments because the mother has been interfering with his visitation rights Custody and visitation should not be confused with child support. You must always pay your child support no matter what. You may face heavy penalties for failing to meet your obligations. Each and every parent must support their children.

A major study identified a revealing connection between custody and visitation arrangements, degrees of conflict and the payment of court-ordered child support. Fathers were more likely to keep up with paying child support in situations when they spent regular and frequent time with their children, including daytime and overnight stays. As they became less involved in the children’s lives, the less likely they were to keep paying child support.

Are your visitation rights being interfered with? At Child Custody Information there is lots of information on out of state visitation including answers to the most commonly asked questions about laws governing child visitation.