Mineola Divorce Lawyer David L. Martin
Nassau County Divorce Lawyer

Child Custody & Visitation

If you do not live with the other parent of your child, it is very important that you obtain an order from the New York court granting you custody of the child. Without such an order, the other parent can take the child and leave the state or country. An order granting you custody of the child will be of great assistance in getting the child back should the custodial parent remove the child from New York. An order can be given by a New York Family Court or be part of a judgment of divorce from the New York Supreme Court.
Custody of children can take two forms: legal and physical. Legal custody gives a person the right to make important decisions about the child. Physical custody means the right to have the child live with a person.

In a divorce, one person may have both legal and physical custody. Another option is that both parties share legal custody, but only one has physical custody. Still another option is that the parties share both legal and physical custody.

With regard to the New York Visitation Guidelines, the parent who does not have physical custody has the following options:

• Reasonable visitation rights
• Specified visitation rights, which may be limited to every other weekend and specified holidays, or Saturdays or Sundays every week plus specific holidays.

Under some circumstances, visitation may be permitted only with supervision

Kew Gardens Divorce Lawyer David L. Martin
Queens New York Divorce Lawyer