When you and your spouse get divorced, it's possible that you'll end up with custody of your children. There are many different reasons that you may be the better choice for custody, but you may still want to allow your ex-spouse to see the children around a regular schedule. Should you feel that supervised visitation is the best approach, you can work with your divorce attorney to put together specific requirements for how these visitations will take place. Don't be afraid to be meticulous in what you specify, as the good of your children may depend on you. Here are some things that you can ask for.
Activities
It's possible for the parent who has custody to specify what activities will take place during supervised visitation. You want to be specific about this topic if you feel as though your ex-spouse has poor judgment as to what activities are appropriate for your children. For example, perhaps he or she has exposed them to violent or scary movies or video games in the past in an effort to seem popular, but then you've had to deal with their sleep struggles afterward. Don't hesitate to rule out certain activities and suggest others that are more appropriate.
Involvement Of Others
You can also specify who you want to be present during the supervised visitations. Your ex-spouse may occasionally want to bring a family member to these meetings. For example, his or her parents may have expressed an interest in seeing the children, and thus may wish to attend the supervised visitations. You'll need to think about the people in your ex-spouse's life and what influence they may have on your children. If the people in question have been a poor influence in the past, you have the right to exclude them from being present during a visitation.
Attitude Toward You
If the court has granted you custody and decided on supervised visits, there's a good chance that there are some issues between you and your ex-spouse. When you're talking to your divorce attorney about your visitation requirements, you may want to stipulate that your ex-spouse has to act cordially toward you. Some people may use this get-together as an opportunity to berate their ex-spouse or otherwise start a conflict, which will be detrimental to the children. If your ex-spouse can't heed your visitation requirements, you can talk to your attorney about changing the visitation agreement.
Talk to professionals like Franklin & Rapp for more information.
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