Legal Question in Family Law in Arizona
Visitation
My mom and her ex husband have been going thru a court battle over child support and visitation. Our attorney says my brother, age 12, has no choice but to visit his father. Billy (12) does not want anything to do with his father. He is verbally and emotionally abusive to Billy. On Christmas of 2000, he told Billy he would hurt my mother physically and he didn't want his daughter to be his daughter anymore. He also told Billy that the court had changed him and he thought Billy wouldn't want to see him anymore. Our attorney says that until his father physically hurts Billy, there is nothing we can do to stop him from going over there. This man has been in jail several times for domestic violence and is very capable of seriously hurting Billy. Is there any other way of going around this?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Visitation
Thank you for your inquiry. I am sorry to hear of your family's difficulties.
As long as there is a court order granting visitation to the father, he is entitled to the parenting time, whether Billy wants to see him or not.
In order to change the court order, your mother would have to show the court that visitation is not in Billy's best interests. When there has been no physical abuse to the child, it will be necessary for an impartial evaluator to assess the parties and the situation and to make a recommendation to the court. This custodial evaluation can be expensive, but the court also offers a type of evaluation through the Conciliation Services department, called a "Dispute Assessment."
Either way, in cases where a parent is estranged from a child, the court prefers to make all efforts to repair the relationship. The evaluator often recommends "therapeutic re-unification," which means that the visitation occurs in a setting supervised by a counselor or therapist (a different person than the evaluator). When the therapist determines that the relationship has been mended, the parent and child might be able to pursue traditional visitation.
I hope this information has been useful. If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] or (480) 792-9770.
Sincerely,
Monica Donaldson
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