Legal Question in Family Law in South Carolina
3rd party visitation given to great-aunt
I need info on 3rd party visitation in SC.My husband obtained permanent custody of his 6 yr old daughter who up to this point lived with her great-aunt.The biological mother lives in Florida.Our final court order gave liberal visitation to the biological mother who has never been involved in the child's life & has no desire to.**The problem is that the order states that if the mother does not take her visitation, the great-aunt can take it.**So basically the great-aunt got liberal visitation. The mother thus far has not taken any & probably won't.The great-aunt is livid that she no longer has the child in her possession & each time the child goes for visitation & comes back, she is upset.There is visitation every week & this is very difficult on the child who has school the next day.Otherwise, she is the happiest, carefree child in the world.We want reasonable visitation.What is considered reasonable in a situation like this?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: 3rd party visitation given to great-aunt
The court can order visitation in any way it sees fit. Usually the court will order "specific" visitation, inwhich it will set a visitation schedule setting forth exactly when visitation will occur. On the other hand, it often orders "reasonable" visitation, which means that the parties are free to agree on any visitation that is reasonable. That means that the noncustodial parent can see the child as much as they want, as long as it is convenient for everyone concerned. The court assumes that the parties can work out such times for visitation between them. However, if "reasonable' visitation doesn't work, especially if it for some reason isn't in the child's best interest, then you can go back to court and ask for a specific visitation schedule.
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