Best Interest of the Child

• The context of which visitation rights are decided

Grandparent Visits

• Visitation awarded to the grandparents that doesn’t interfere with the parent child relationship

Guardian ad Litem

• A Guardian ad litem is a third-party evaluator who studies the details of the relationships between the child and each parent, and makes recommendations to the family court.

Legitimation

• In Georgia, with unmarried parents, the biological father does not have automatic rights to visitation. A legitimation process is the first step to assert a right to gain parental visitation rights.

Parenting Plan

• This is a required part of a divorce in Georgia. The Parenting Plan is a formal Agreement that delineates core issues such as visitation schedules, custody, certain parental conduct (i.e., no overnight sleepovers by non-relatives),  and aspects of co-parenting.

Pendente Lite

• Temporary circumstances made for child visitation until a hearing. This is often a short-term solution to allow the non-custodial parent visitation time, and not be alienated to to conflict between the parents.

Unsupervised Visits

• The non-custodial parent spends time with the child without the other parent being present. This is the customary arrangement for visitation. Effectively this is the drop-off and pick-up custody exchange.

Supervised Visits

•  The non-custodial parent spends time with the child with the presence of another person. Supervised visitation is typically associated with visitation where the non-custodial parent has substance abuse problems, mental illness, or a less that desireable home environment.

Visitation

• Visitation refers to in-person time for the non-custodial parent has rights to see the child(ren). In Georgia, there are typical visitation schedules, however; the parents may deviate from the typical arrangement. Parents have the right to informally accommodate each other for visitation outside of the set schedule. This is common when a parent has to travel, has an extended illness, or has distant relatives visiting.

Visitation Order

• A visitation order may be issued when the parents fail to create and agree upon a visitation schedule. Common issues resolved are holiday visitation, school break visitation, and religious holidays.