By Sarah Dillon
A parent who does not win custody of the child will be entitled to visitation or parenting time. The amount of time will depend on the circumstances, the distance apart that the parents live and any requests from the parents.
A common award of parenting time is every other weekend but if the parents live far apart then the non custodial parent will get more time during school holidays.
A parent can be denied parenting time if the court considers it is not in the best interests of the child such as when the child may be put in danger or at risk of harm or kidnapping.
If this occurs then the parent may have access to the child only under supervision of a responsible adult or social services.
If parents can not agree on visitation or there is a high degree of conflict between them then a very specific parenting or visitation schedule can be drawn up and approved by the court.
It is sensible for parents to review their parenting plan as the child grows older because the child's needs will change with maturity and this should be reflected in the parenting plan.
When a parent wins physical custody and the other parent gets visitation rights, these rights may be exercised "at reasonable times and places".
This can be problematic because who says what is a reasonable time and place and clearly this puts the parent who has physical custody in a strong position to mess around the other parent.
For this reason courts encourage strongly the parents to work out a parenting plan to ensure reasonable access to the non custodial parent. This plan should be really agreed between parents before going to court to enable the judge to make it part of his order when making his custody decision.
For this reason mediation may be a helpful solution to solve any outstanding issues and it is better to come to a mediated agreement rather than have the court impose a solution.
Mediation should be cheaper than a legal battle and is quick compared to a legal battle which can drag on for months or even years.
It must also be recognised that if the interests of the child are to be put first, then parents who engage in mediation show their children that even though they have broken up they can still communicate like rational human beings and this has a very positive long term effect on the development of the child.
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