Custody & Kidnapping

In general, if someone is already in court because the abuser filed for visitation or custody, s/he may not have much to lose by asking that the visits be supervised if s/he can present a valid reason for the request (although this may depend on the specific situation). However, I do want to point out that in the majority of cases, supervised visits are only a temporary measure. Although the exact visitation order will vary by state, county, or judge, the judge might order a professional to observe the other parent on a certain amount of visits or the visits might be supervised by a relative for a certain amount of time – and if there are no obvious problems, the visits may likely become unsupervised. [ADD THIS IF IT SEEMS THAT THERE IS NO CURRENT COURT CASE GOING ON AND V WANTS TO START A COURT CASE SPECIFICALLY TO ASK FOR SUPERVISED VISITS: However, if there is no current court case for custody/visitation already in court, a parent who is thinking of starting a case just to ask for supervised visits may want to get legal advice before starting a court case to ask for supervised visits. You may want to first talk to an attorney who specializes in custody matters to find out what you would have to prove to get the visits supervised and how long supervised visits would last, based on the facts of your case.]

In the majority of cases, supervised visits are only a temporary measure. Although the exact visitation order will vary by state, county, or judge, the judge might order a professional to observe the other parent on a certain amount of visits or the visits might be supervised by a relative for a certain amount of time – and if there are no obvious problems, the visits may likely become unsupervised. [ADD THIS IF IT SEEMS THAT THERE IS NO CURRENT COURT CASE GOING ON AND V WANTS TO START A COURT CASE SPECIFICALLY TO ASK FOR SUPERVISED VISITS: Oftentimes, at the end of a case, the parent who filed the case for the purpose of supervised visits now has to deal with a custody/visitation order that grants the other parent more frequent and/or longer visits than s/he had before (or even some form of custody).]

Custody laws vary state by state and can be complicated. Here is a link for lawyers in STATE, some of which may be free or low-cost if you qualify: LINK

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