What Do You Do When Someone Won’t Let the Father See Their Child in California?

Sep 20, 2020

What Do You Do When Someone Won’t Let the Father See Their Child in California?

Co-parenting a child can be a difficult experience when the parents have difficulty getting along. In some cases, a mother may feel that a father should not have the ability to see their child for one reason or multiple reasons. However, it is important to understand when a mother is and is not legally justified for withholding a child from a father. If the mother of your child is preventing you from seeing your son or daughter, you should consult with an experienced Ventura child custody lawyer as soon as possible. At the Law Offices of Bamieh & De Smeth, PLC, we understand the stress of being unable to see your child, and we are here to help you enforce your parental rights. Our firm is here to discuss when a father can do when they are prevented from seeing their child in California.

When Can a Parent Prevent a Father from Seeing Their Child in California?

It is normal to be frustrated if the parent of your child or another family member is preventing you from seeing your child. While no one wants to miss important bonding time with their child, it is vital to understand when a parent or guardian is within their rights to prevent visitation. To determine what to do if you were denied visitation with your child, you should first understand the type of child custody agreement you possess.

In California, both parents can have custody of a child, or the parents could share custody. There are multiple types of custody arrangements that can be made. Note, however, that if two parents cannot agree on a custody arrangement, a judge could make a determination depending on the facts of the case.

California has two types of child custody: legal custody and physical custody.

Legal Custody

Legal custody is when a parent has the right to make vital decisions on the child’s behalf:

  • Education
  • Healthcare
  • Religion
  • Travel arrangements
  • Extracurricular activities

Parents can have joint or sole legal custody. Joint legal custody allows both parents to make decisions on behalf of a child, while sole legal custody only allows one parent to make decisions for the child. For more information or a guide to joint custody in California, contact our family law attorneys today.

Physical Custody

Physical custody is typically the most important factor that must be considered when a parent tries to prevent a father from seeing their child. Like legal custody, physical custody can be separated into joint and sole. Joint physical custody allows a child to live with both parents. However, sole physical custody means that a child lives with one parent, and the other parent may have visitation.

If you have joint physical custody of your child, it violates the court order for a parent to prevent a father from seeing their child. When this happens, you should speak with an experienced attorney that can help you fight for your visitation rights. However, if you do not have joint physical custody of your child, your visitation rights will depend on the visitation agreement with the other parent.

To learn more about visitation rights in California, you should consult with an experienced Ventura, CA family lawyer as soon as possible.

Types of Visitation Orders for Fathers in California

Visitation also referred to as timeshare, is a plan for how two parents will share custody of a child. A parent that does not have custody of a child will typically have visitation rights in California.

It is important to note that the parents of a child can make a visitation agreement outside of court. However, if one parent violates the visitation order that was made outside of court, a parent can take the agreement to court to have it approved.

There are multiple types of visitation orders that parents can agree to in California:

  • Scheduled Visitation: Scheduled visitation is when parents have specific times when each parent spends time with the child. This type of visitation schedule may take into account holidays and other special events.
  • Reasonable Visitation: Reasonable visitation is when parents are permitted to sort out when parent visits can occur. While this form of visitation is more open-ended, it does not give a parent a right to keep a child away from a father unnecessarily.
  • Supervised Visitation: Supervised visitation is when the court may order that a parent cannot spend time with their child without being supervised by another party. The supervisor can be another parent or even an employee from an agency.
  • No Visitation: When a parent does not have visitation rights, it likely means that the parent’s behavior is considered harmful to the child.

If you are being prevented from having visitation with your child, you should waste no time in speaking with an experienced Carpinteria family law attorney. We can help you fight for the ability to see your child.

Contact Our Experienced California Family Law Attorneys to Discuss Your Visitation Rights

If you are a father that is being withheld from seeing your child in California, you should contact an experienced Ventura child custody attorney for fathers as soon as possible. The skilled legal team at the Law Offices of Bamieh & De Smeth possesses a wide range of experience handling complex family law issues, and we are here to offer you legal representation for your case. To schedule a free legal consultation to discuss your child custody case, contact the Law Offices of Bamieh & De Smeth at (805) 643-5555. You may also contact the firm online to schedule your consultation.