Florida parents who have a contentious relationship with a former partner may find themselves being denied visitation with or access to their children. While it is uncommon for family courts to deny visitation rights to a parent absent serious questions of neglect or abuse, the other parent might take it upon themselves to do so. In some cases, custodial parents may cite transportation problems, convenience issues or a difficulty working with the other parent’s employment schedule. While failure to pay child support can lead to significant penalties, these do not usually include loss of visitation rights. However, an angry parent might refuse access anyway to a parent with a child support debt.
The family courts do not favor this kind of action, especially as it can damage the parent-child relationship. Other reasons for denying visitation can be more complicated. A parent may object to the other parent’s boyfriend or girlfriend. Still, outside specific provisions in the divorce regarding exposure to a partner or problematic behaviors like exposing the children to drugs, inappropriate material or abuse, this is rarely a reason to deny visitation. In addition, some problems may arise when a child does not want to see the other parent for their own reasons, especially when older kids are involved.
In many cases, parents can come to a solution with their former partners. For example, both parents may agree to not expose their children to new partners until a certain amount of time has passed.
At the same time, other exes may attempt to carry on child custody battles long after the end of a relationship, and the result can be devastating to parent-child relations. A family law attorney could help a parent being wrongfully denied access to their children to protect their rights in family court.