Why Courts Order Supervised Visitation

supervised-visits

Under New York law, courts decide custody and visitation matters in “the best interests of the child.” Generally, there is a presumption that frequent, meaningful contact with both parents is in the child’s best interest, so even if one party to a divorce can’t share custody, that parent gets regular visitation or parenting time. Visitation usually has few restrictions, detailed in the court-approved parenting plan, pertaining to times for pickups and drop-offs.  However, the court will deny visitation or order supervised visitation if the child’s physical or emotional well-being might be endangered.

In making that determination, the court considers evidence of:

  • Violence or threats of violence against the child
  • Emotional harm
  • The child's request to limit or deny visits
  • A noncustodial parent's mental illness or substance abuse
  • The emotional damage caused by visiting a parent in jail
  • A parent's threats to abduct the child

Most supervised visitation orders are temporary. If the supervisor reports that there is no reason to fear for the child’s safety, the judge usually calls an end to supervision.

In our divorce law practice at Bryan L. Salamone & Associates, P.C., we encounter situations where a child needs protection from an abusive parent. But even more often, we have cases where the other parent launches a smear campaign against our client to influence the court’s custody decision. In either instance, we provide our client with aggressive representation to protect the child from potential abuse or to protect our client’s reputation and parental rights.  

The court can only order supervised visitation after a formal judicial hearing. To get the aggressive representation you need for your hearing, choose Long Island’s largest and busiest divorce law firm, Bryan L. Salamone & Associates, P.C.

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