QUESTION
Can I get a custody with supervised visitation?
Asked on Dec 11th, 2012 on Family Law - Arizona
More details to this question:
I lived with the father of three of my children, he is on the birth certificate of two of them. We were never married. We lived in Florida. He is serving 4 years for drug trafficking in a case where he cooperated and there were Co defendants. I have lived in Arizona for 9 months. I pay for phone calls and send pictures but I do not want him to have unsupervised visitation because he lives in Florida and I don't trust him with my children. All of the three children were under two when he was arrested so there is basically no bond. Another detail is that a few years ago he was arrested in Arizona for a DUI with my older son in the car.
2 ANSWERS
If there are no court orders, then under the Arizona paternity statutes, you currently have legal custody of your children. If he is incarcerated, you have a couple different options. You could file an action for paternity and ask the court to restrict his rights (e.g. supervised parenting time) based on his incarceration. If he later wants the court to modify the orders, it would be his burden to prove that the modification is in the children's best interests, and the court would decide at that point what his rights are. The other option is to "do nothing." In the future, he might file an action to assert his rights, but at that time, he still has to prove that what he's requesting is in the kids' best interests. Either way, the action would have to be filed in Arizona since that has become the children's home state. I recommend you consult with an attorney to determine your best course of action.
Answered on Dec 14th, 2012 at 12:24 AM
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My suggestion would be to establish custody, parenting time and child support orders and request that he have only supervised visitation. Given his offenses and the lack of contact with the children, the Court would likely favor this arrangement at least until he proves that he is a fit parent. He might need to undergo a psychological evaluation, parenting classes or other interventions to prove he is a fit parent and those are the interventions I would request. That being said, I would definitely request that he only have supervised access to start.
Answered on Dec 13th, 2012 at 8:50 PM