Legal Question in Family Law in New York
visitation question
my husband and i were never legally married but did have ceremony n lived together for almost six years. we recently seperated and he has moved to another state. we have a five year old daughter who he wants to have fly down to him every other week. We do not want to go to court but i feel that is too much flying for a little girl her age to do. He will fly up and get her and bring her back but @ 5 that seem very unstable. I am not opposed to him seeing her and i actually encourage it, just not under those terms. What are my legal rights as the custodial parent in this matter? I really want to avoid legal preceedings.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: visitation question
Any objections you may have to the transportation means or methods used for your 5 year old's visitation with her father, must be reasonable.
And, what is considered reasonable, by a Court, can vary according to the circumstances.
However, if, you are not offering an alternative means, consistent with the time and cost constraints of all of the concerned parties, claiming, w/o more, that flying seems "very unstable" for a 5 year old, to do regularly, without more, is likely to be considered unreasonble.
Good luck,
Re: visitation question
If you were never legally married then your marriage will not be recognized in the State of New York.
With regard to your child, if you are unwilling to go to court then you and the child's father will have to come to an agreement based on an honours system.
If you were married you could have made arrangements for visitations with a separation agreement.
Sincerely,
Charles A. Whittier, Esq.
Re: visitation question
As long as you are avoiding litigation, you and the father have whatever rights you agree upon. If you cannot agree and end up in court, there is a wide range of possible schemes to provide for custody and visitation. You may be right that bi-weekly air travel is unduly burdensome for a five-year-old, but there is probably no easy way to facilitate time sharing over great distances, so everyone must compromise in order to make something work.