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Three Things You Should Know About Virtual Visitation

24 May 2016 by Louise Boyd

In most states, child visitation is no longer restricted to physical visits to interact with the child. Virtual visitation allows you to communicate and interact with your child even when apart. Here are three important things you should know about virtual visitation:

Many Have Been Doing It without Knowing

When people hear of virtual visitation, they have in mind video conferences (think Skype), but it isn't always that sophisticated. Legally speaking, any mode of communication or interaction that takes place in an electronic medium, qualifies for this designation. This means that text messaging, telephone calls, emails, and instant messages all qualify as virtual visitation. Many parents have been using these methods to communicate with their children, which mean they have been engaging in virtual visitation.

Does Not Substitute Physical Visitation

In most cases, virtual visitation is ordered to supplement physical visitation, and not to replace it. Therefore, you may request virtual visitation if you already have physical visitation bus suspect that it is not adequate, or the circumstances don't allow for frequent physical visitation. This may be the case, for example, you are living in different states or countries. It is a good way of increasing contact with a child who needs it, for example, a difficult child who needs more parental contact to reform.

Note that many custodial parents will allow some forms of virtual visitation, such as texts or phone calls, even in the absence of virtual visitation orders. However, the court will only enforce electronic interactions with your child if you have a legally binding order.

It Requires Careful Drafting

While virtual visitation may look like a very easy thing to set up, some challenges may crop up during the implementation stage. Therefore, careful drafting is necessary to cover things like:

• Who will pay for the equipment and service – This may not be an issue if all you need is regular phone calls with your child. However, it is a big deal if you lean more towards video conferencing for more interactive communication.
• When the virtual visitation is to take place.
• Privacy issues – Text messages and email communications may remain on the devices after the virtual visitation is over. The visitation draft should contain language making communication between you and your child private.

Are you interested in virtual visitation? Talk to your divorce attorney to see if you can get it included in your custody order to improve contact with your child.

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