Your Parental Visitation Rights & Maryland Child Custody Law

In this article, you can discover:

• The relationship between keeping visitation rights and making timely child support payments.
• Tips on exercising your visitation rights if the other parent denies access to your child.

Are Visitation Rights Ever Contingent On The Payment Of Child Support?

Visitation rights are not contingent on child support payments.

However, if a parent has not been paying child support when they should have been, the court may take that into consideration when making custody determinations. However, it is just one of many factors the court will consider, and other factors that affect the child more directly will likely carry more weight. So while it may be brought up, it is not necessarily determinative or dispositive.

How Do I Exercise My Visitation Rights If A Custodial Parent Is Denying Me Access?

If you have an existing custody order and the custodial parent is not following it, then filing a petition for contempt is a must. You could also file a motion for modification if you feel the custody order needs to change. However, if you are in a position where you only need the court to enforce your existing custody order, filing a petition for contempt is the first step.

Unfortunately, a petition for contempt may take a few months to be settled. However, if you and the other party both have attorneys, you may be able to reach an agreement about access while the contempt petition is pending.

Often, the attorneys can talk and figure out why access was denied. Sometimes they can come up with a temporary or permanent solution that makes both parties happy and allows access to resume.

How Do I Exercise My Visitation Rights If A Custodial Parent Is Denying Me Access And There Is No Custody Order In Place?

If you don’t have a custody order in place, the best thing to do if you’re denied access to your child is to file a custody or visitation case. This will ensure that the issue is brought before a court.

People often want to call the police when they’re denied access to their child, but this usually does more harm than good. If there is no custody order in place telling the police which parent should have what time, then they will make sure the child is safe and likely leave them where they are. You can call the police and ask them to do a welfare check if you think you know where your child is and believe that they may be in danger. However, the police will not be able to remove a child from one parent and give them to the other parent where there is no order in place.

With the guidance of a skilled attorney for Custody Cases, you can have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that you have a lawyer on your side.

For more information on Custody Cases in Maryland, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (443) 300-2335 today.