Welcome to SPARC Forums. Please login or sign up.

Mar 28, 2024, 03:28:11 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Never Married and pay child support, would like visitation

Started by always_thinking, Dec 17, 2008, 09:47:22 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

always_thinking

What is the name of your state? Florida
Summary.
I have a friend in Florida that I would like to help obtain visitation. He presently has none. I guess that would make him an NCP like me even though he never gets to see his child. He was not married to the woman that he had a child with and pays child support for the child.
I am having a hard time identifying why there was no court order which allows him to see his child at all, but believe it since he was pro-se and never petitioned for it.
I have never been in his situation because I am a divorced NCP. I don't know how different things are for those seeking visitation who haven't been married, why they are different, or even if they are different.
I have checked his public records for him and see that he has two seperate family law cases. One case is for Paternity, and one is for child support.
Just for the record, he is amongst the many NCP(s) who cannot afford an attorney.
I am capable of helping him along since I filed my own petitions in the past with the same court and even have the same judge, but I still have some questions.
Questions:
1) Shooting in the dark here, I think that he needs to file a Petition to Modify Visitation and Other Relief or just a plain Petition to Modify Visitation. Is that right? 
2) Would the case number that he will be using on his motion be the same as his paternity case number, or his child support case number? If not, then how would he go about obtaining a new case number?
3) Do you have any thoughts on a starting point for my friend?
Thank you for your time!

Giggles

I'm not a lawyer.

It seems to me that quite possibly he only has the Child support order and that is very likely.  Here is a site that might help him get a visitation order/custody order in place:

http://www.samassini.com/custody-rights-for-fathers.html (http://www.samassini.com/custody-rights-for-fathers.html)

Many times what happens is that the mother is on state assitance and they require her to apply for Child Support.  Child support is then established but not necessairly "Custody". 
Now I'm living....Just another day in Paradise!!

*iLUVmySD*

My husband was never married to the BM of his daughter.  His situation was very similar to your friend's for a long time.  When we finally figured out that a Child Support Order is a completely different thing than a Child Custody/Visitation Order that was the turning point in our case.

The Child Support Order is in Nevada and the Child Custody/Visitation order, which he filed for and obtained custody, is in Arizona.

All your friend has to do is file for a custody/visitation hearing so that it can be officially determined. Hope this helps!