150 DIVorCe wItH DeCenCY
The court’s guidelines. If the parties can’t agree on their own visi-
tation schedule, the court will step in (as it often does) and impose
one. Visitation periods allocated for the noncustodial parent under
current court guidelines in most jurisdictions will consist of every
other weekend (either Friday night through Sunday night or Sat-
urday morning through Monday morning). In addition, the non-
custodial parent usually gets one day during the week in which
they are not getting weekend visitation. The basic noncustodial
visitation schedule normally comes out to be a couple of week-
ends per month, plus a few other miscellaneous days thrown in
each month, and then half of all major holidays and the summer
vacations.
Parents aren’t the only ones who can obtain visitation rights.
Divorcing stepparents can retain visitation rights with their step-
kids if they get appropriate provisions written into their divorce
decrees. Furthermore, about forty-seven states now have laws
that can allow grandparent visitation after the parents divorce,
separate, or die. Following the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling
in the case of Troxel vs. Granville, however, grandparents seeking
such visitation must realize that they may now have the much
heavier burden of proving that such visits are in the grandchil-
dren’s best interests and/or that the grandkids would be harmed
if they didn’t get to see their grandparents. Since that is a difficult
burden of proof to establish, grandparents who desire assured
visits with their grandkids should make a point of getting pro-
visions establishing those visits included in their kid’s original
divorce decrees.
Contested Custody
Children must be considered in a divorce—considered valuable pawns in the
nasty legal and financial contest that is about to ensue.
—P. J. O’Rourke
Contested custody cases are the most intense and emotionally
draining matters that we as divorce lawyers have to handle.
Recent national studies indicate that 90 percent of all child-custody
arrangements are arrived at via a settlement negotiated between
the parties themselves. If, however, the spouses are unable to