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2011-07-26 Key Phrase: Child Visitation
0:02: restructuring a family is painful and confusing to parents as well as kids a
0:05: common question concerned visitations for children under the age of three are
0:10: they the same or are they different Live at Five’s family attorney Sonya Coffman
0:14: joins us now with more and we've got lots of questions today so three years
0:19: old and under are visitation rights different when it comes to custody
0:23: battles they are we’re often asked when overnight visits start with a very young
0:28: child 0:29: and the standard order that so many
people are familiar with really doesn't 0:33: start until the child is age three when
it's presumed to be in the best 0:36: interests
0:37: so judges decide what's most appropriate for the young children and
0:42: recently the legislature has codified the factors that the court needs
0:46: to consider in making that determination 0:49: one of the big factors is how has parenting
time been divided before the 0:54: people got to court
0:55: for example if usually it's a father of a very young child is trying to get
0:59: overnight visits the court will look at whether he's had those before coming to
1:04: court already 1:05: oftentimes the visitation is incremental
meaning that its gradually increased with 1:10: the non-custodial parent getting more
time s there are a lot of factors case-specific 1:16: but need to talk to an attorney about
those issues ok on to KFDM News Facebook page 1:19: like I said we've got lots of questions
1:22: can a non-custodial parent voluntarily relinquish their rights without being in
1:27: agreement to do so with the custodial parent
1:29: if so does this relieve them from having to support their child believe it or
1:34: not that's a common question too 1:36: judges are very reluctant to terminate
a parent’s rights if the 1:41: reason for doing so says is to terminate
the support obligation 1:45: so generally the answer is going to
be no the court's not going to do that 1:49: the most common situation is if say
a father terminates rights and 1:54: step-father adopts and in that case
the biological father’s 1:58: obligation to support would be terminated
but strictly giving up rights 2:02: for the purpose of avoiding child support
no ok another question I’m 2:06: trying to get custody back of my son
can’t afford an attorney but cps 2:09: hasn't done their job either as far
as my child situation living conditions are 2:13: not good
2:14: mental abuse is no good either can you tell me where to go from here
2:18: trying to get custody back 2:21: that's going to involve either cps making
the placement of the child or 2:25: the judge deciding what's in the best
interests now if this person can’t afford 2:29: an attorney they might check with Lone
Star Legal Aid about getting a 2:33: pro bono attorney appointed
2:36: for them it would however be very difficult to represent herself uh... without an
2:40: attorney okay another question 2:43: if a child doesn't have the man's last
name never had a DNA test to prove it 2:47: that it was his never gets to see the
child and never signed the birth certificate 2:50: should the man have to pay child support
2:52: well if he has been ordered to pay child support it's a legal obligation but if
2:57: there’s some doubt about paternity I believe we talked about this a couple of
3:00: segments ago 3:02: there's a new law in place now that
says you can go and have genetic testing 3:06: no matter the age of the child if he’s
not the father then that support 3:09: obligation would be terminated alright
and unfortunately we are out of time 3:13: I mean we've got lots of questions could
we’ll get to those next time thanks Sonya 3:16: thanks for having me
3:17: and if you'd like to have a question answered about family law you can let
3:21: attorney Sonya Coffman answer your questions 3:23: fax us those questions eight nine two
seven three oh five email us at laf 3:27: @kfdm.com or you can post them on our
KFDM News Facebook 3:31: page