Legal Question in Family Law in California
Currently I am in the middle of a divorce with my estranged husband, I have found out that he is a convicted/ registered sex affender on megans law. We have two young children at the ages of 2, and 1 years old. He currently has supervised visitations however he keeps bringing his child from a past previous relationship to the visit with my children encouraging and pleading they engage together, my attorney has been out of town and is not returning my calls and I need to know if this is okay since it is not specified in the court order. I have been advised to not allow this and am currently proceeding with that rule which has caused him to call the police. My question is: Would a registered sex affender with supervised visitations be allowed to bring other people to his visits with him? Thank you for your help.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Being a registered sex offender would have nothing to do with this issue. The question is simply whether a father with supervised visitations can bring the children's half sibling to visitations. Since you don't provide any information regarding the details of the visitation and order, such as where the visitations occur, who supervises, etc., I can't tell you whether or not there would be limitations on what he can do during the visits. I can tell you, however, that if this goes to court, you are going to look like the bad guy. His other child is a blood relative of your children, a brother or sister. The courts strongly favor preserving family ties to the full extent appropriate under the circumstances. Parents who try to impede the child's bonding with the other side of the family are frowned on by the courts and the law. In fact being the parent who is most likely to foster relations with the other parent and family is a factor in deciding contested custody cases. So if your force him to go to court for a modification to expressly deal with this issue, he is likely to prevail and you will look bad to the court.
You were married to a registered sex offender and you just now found out?