Visitation

[Lvly73]

HI....I currently live in IL however im relocating with my 11month old to florida end of april. I just had my first child support court hearing and the supposed father requested a dna test (i think to make things longer) anyhow the test result showed 99.99% he's the father, ok now we have court again on may 9th and I will be moved out of IL by end of next month. He now lives in Indiana and he asked about visitation rights and the judge said we'd talk about that at the next hearing. My thing is this he has done nothing for her or seen her yet, and thats by his doing, how would the visitation happen if we are in 2 different states? Sorry so long but wanted you to know the full story...Thanks for reading!

[Attorney Dawn Jackson]

parenting long distance is more common than you think. In Florida we use a Parenting Plan to address who will pay the cost of travel and what type of travel is acceptable (i.e. by plane, by car, ect.) and the location where the exchanges will occur. Typically the non-residential parent will have extended time-sharing with the child during summer break, winter or Christmas break, spring break, ect. Regular telephone calls and video chats via Skype, if available, are also used to encourage frequent contact between the long-distance parent and the child.