Roseville Child Visitation Attorney

ROSEVILLE CHILD VISITATION LAWYER, Sara S. Thompson – The well-being of children is one of the most sensitive and cared-for issues when it comes to family law. The courts and most parents want to have a plan that is in the best interest of the child. A part of this is establishing proper visitation plans. When parents need assistance, a Roseville child visitation attorney can help.

Visitation vs. Custody

California courts often hear parents use custody and visitation interchangeably. Legally speaking, they aren’t exactly the same thing.

Legal custody dictates who has the authority to make important decisions about a child. These decisions can include health care, education, and overall welfare. When parents share legal custody, they have equal decision-making authority. Sole legal custody allows one parent to make decisions without consulting the other.

Physical custody determines where a child lives and who takes care of them on a day-to-day basis. Physical custody is also defined by whether it is joint or sole. Joint physical custody does not necessarily mean that the child spends equal time with both parents. Joint physical custody means both parents have adequate amounts of parenting time.

Visitation falls under physical custody arrangements. When one parent has physical custody for the majority of the time, the second parent generally receives visitation rights. Visitation can also be called parenting time.

Understanding Best Interests of the Child in Roseville

Approximately 22% of children aged 0–17 lived with their mother alone in 2022, 5% lived with their father alone, and over 70% lived with two parents, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. In that same year, about 4% of minors lived without a parent.

If you are going before a Roseville court for visitation or custody orders, you may hear about the best interests of the child standard. This standard is based on California Family Code sections 3011 and 3020 and focuses on what benefits the child rather than what the parents want. Some of the factors a judge may consider include:

• The child’s health, safety, and welfare
• Any history of past abuse, neglect, or domestic violence, and whether there should be any safety orders in place
• Nature and amount of contact with both parents, and a preference for frequent contact when possible
• Drug or alcohol abuse by either parent and the safety of the child
• Child’s connection to school, home, and community, and the benefits of maintaining stability
• Parents’ ability to provide care, maintain routines, and encourage the child’s development

Judges look at the above factors with no set formula and craft visitation orders that provide the child with the most stable and safe environment.

Establishing Paternity

In Parentage matters, before visitation can be decided, paternity must be established to determine who is the legal father of the child. If the parents are unmarried, parentage must be established before custody, visitation, or child support can be ordered by the court.

Paternity can be established by either signing a voluntary Declaration of Paternity or getting a court order. Generally, if either party has questions about the parentage of the alleged father, a DNA test may be requested. However, there are exceptions to this general rule.

Understanding Visitation

Visitation: If your case is before a court on the issues of custody and/or visitation, you typically attend mediation to try to come to an agreement concerning custody and/or visitation of your child(ren). If your case is in a “recommending county” and you and the other parent cannot come to a recommendation, the mediator makes a recommendation to the court on what they believe to be in the best interest of the child(ren).

Visitation Schedule: Not every child visitation case has the same visitation schedule. However, there are some common schedules. When the court makes orders concerning child custody and visitation, they are looking at the best interest of the child.

Some parents may have what is referred to as “reasonable visitation,” where there is no set schedule that the parties follow. Other parents may have supervised visitation, which can be done with an agreed-upon or court ordered 3^rd party or a professional supervising agency. Some cases have court orders for no visitation with a parent.

Sample Visitation Schedules

No visitation schedule is set in stone. Parents and courts typically look at what would be most beneficial for the child and what the parents can reasonably achieve. Some sample visitation schedules are as follows (The sample visitation schedules are for reference only and may or may not be in the best interest of your child(ren)):

2-2-5 or 2-2-5-5 schedule: The child spends 2 days with each parent and then 5 days with each parent. An example of this schedule is as follows:

Parent 1 has every Monday at 8:00 a.m. until Wednesday at 8:00 a.m.
Parent 2 has every Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. until Friday at 8:00 a.m.
They alternate the weekends (Friday at 8:00 a.m. until Monday at 8:00 a.m.).

2-2-3 schedule: The child spends 2 days with one parent, 2 days with the other parent, and 3 days with the first parent. The next week switches.

Week on/week off schedule: The child spends 1 week with one parent and 1 week with the other parent. Usually, you see this schedule for older children.

Every weekend: The child would be with one parent during the week and the other parent during the weekend.

Every other weekend, with or without mid-week visit: The child would be with one parent every other weekend and have mid-week visit(s). The mid-week visit could be an overnight or dinner visit and could be every week or on off-weekend weeks. Some schedules don’t have a mid-week visit.

3-4-4-3 schedule: The child spends 3 days with one parent, and 4 days with the other. The schedule switches the next week.

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In Roseville, custody and visitation matters typically go through the Placer County Superior Court, Roseville Branch, located at 10820 Justice Center Drive, Roseville, California 95678. If you are seeking visitation clarity, hire a child visitation attorney right away with the Law Office of Sara S. Thompson, PC.

If you need assistance filing a paternity action or assistance with child support, or child custody and visitation in an already established paternity action, contact the Law Office of Sara S. Thompson, PC to speak with a Roseville child visitation attorney.