Divorce in Michigan can be challenging, especially with children in the picture. This situation can become more stressful for a parent after a court denies this person custody of their child. Fortunately, most courts offer visitation rights that allow parents to be in their children’s lives.
Custody denials happen for many reasons
As disheartening as it is to hear a court deny you child custody, this action is rarely a personal attack on any parent. Instead, courts often issue custody denials based on which child a parent spends the most time with. A parent can also live far away, making it hard for a child to visit them.
Besides the previously mentioned reasons, courts can also not award a parent custody due to the following:
• Parents committed domestic violence against the child or another family member.
• Parents haven’t been in contact with their children
• Parents have a history of abusing drugs or alcohol
A closer look at visitation rights
An essential part of the child custody process involves establishing schedules between a child’s parents. It’s typically beneficial in a court’s eyes when two parents can set visitation schedules together. However, that’s only sometimes the case. If two parents can’t agree on a visitation schedule, a court determines what visitation rights parents have.
Whether two parents or a court decide, visitation rights can come in different forms. For instance, some parents might have visitation rights each weekend or every other weekend. Or one parent might get to spend time with their children during certain seasons or months. The end of these visitation-related discussions is to establish a schedule that works for all parties involved.