Alternative Visitation

Lots of times, people get stuck in the idea that visitation has to be set up certain ways.  The law is pretty clear in Mississippi.  "Visitation is a matter within the chancellor's sound discretion." Brooks v. Brooks, 76 So.3d 215, 222 (¶31) (Miss. Ct. App. 2011). "The chancellor is charged with fashioning a visitation schedule that is in the best interests of the children, and the chancellor's visitation decision is afforded great deference by this Court." Id. Our supreme court has emphasized the importance of a non-custodial parent's visitation rights:

Certainly the rights and responsibilities of the parent having custody following a divorce are paramount with respect to matters of schooling, discipline[,] and the like. We are afraid that by labeling the rights of the non-custodial parent "visitation" we imply an inordinate subordination of those rights in quality. That there will be no misunderstanding in the future[,] the chancellor should approach the fixing of visitation rights with the thought in mind that, absent extraordinary circumstances militating to the contrary, the non-custodial parent will[,] during the periods of visitation[,] have broad authority and discretion with respect to the place and manner of the exercise of same, subject only to the time constrictions found reasonable and placed in the decree. Overnight visitation with the non-custodial parent is the rule, not the exception; indeed, a non-custodial parent is presumptively entitled during reasonable times to overnight visitation with the children. The approach we mandate is based upon the premise of our law in this area: that children of divorced parents should be encouraged to have a close, affectionate and, under the circumstances, as normal as possible a parent-child relationship. To be sure, this ideal is seldom achieved. This, however, is no reason for the law to impose obstacles to that achievement.

Cox v. Moulds, 490 So.2d 866, 870 (Miss. 1986) (internal citation omitted).

The Mississippi Court of Appeals has held that "liberal visitation, at a minimum, means two weekends a month and five weeks during the summer." Messer v. Messer, 850 So.2d 161, 167 (¶22) (Miss. Ct. App. 2003) (citing Chalk v. Lentz, 744 So.2d 789, 792 (¶9) (Miss. Ct. App. 1999)). 

 

From reading the cases, there is no truly standard visitation.  Visitation is what the chancellor says within certain parameters.   Sometimes you have to think outside the box.  I have been looking at what is called 5-2-2-5 visitation from several states out west.  This parenting schedule is where the child is with Parent A every Monday and Tuesday (2 days) and Parent B every Wednesday and Thursday (2 days). The weekends from Friday through Sunday would be alternated (3 days) between the parents. The child will be with the parent whose weekend it is for 5 days and the other parent 2 days. Because the weekend time alternates from week to week, the child would end up spending 50% time with both parents.  Thus it gets the name 5-2-2-5.  I may start experimenting some with this schedule as it has been successful in a number of states even in high conflict cases.  In several states, the law is starting to change and the automatic presumption is that joint custody is in the child's best interest and the burden is on the other party to show that it is not.  At some point, I expect this to be the law in Mississippi.