Parenting Time or Visitation
Parenting Time is not to be confused with child custody. Custody is the right to make decisions about a child's health, education, and religious upbringing. Custody can be sole (one parent only) or joint (both parents together). Parenting Time, on the other hand, is the court-ordered time that each parent may spend with their child or children. This includes a regular parenting time schedule, a summer schedule and a holiday schedule.
If the parents share joint custody, you will have a Joint Custody Agreement that sets forth all of the details relating to the children after the divorce, legal separation or paternity action.
If one parent has sole custody, those details will be set forth in a final Court Order, commonly called a Decree of Dissolution, Decree of Legal Separation or Order for Paternity.
There are numerous types of parenting plans. The amount of time you have with your children and the type of plan you will end up with depends on many factors, including, but not limited to, each parent's work schedule, the child or children's schedules, the age of each child, the relationship between the parent and child prior to the separation and the geographic distance between the parents.
In 2009, the Arizona Supreme Court published a document entitled Planning for "Parenting Time: Arizona's Guide for Parents Living Apart". Please Click Here
PlanningForParentingTime.PDF [1.49 Mb ?5/11/2010]? for a copy of the booklet.
Determining the time your child or children will spend with each parent can be challenging. You may be used to having them all the time and can't imagine it being any different. We know that this is a sensitive and delicate issue and it can be made easier by having an Attorney at your side. If you would like to contact Owens & Perkins regarding Parenting Time or Visitation, click here or call us at 480.994.8824.