Virtual Visitation: What it means and why it matters to Texas families

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Houston Family Law Attorneys – For families where all of its members do not live under the same roof, technology can greatly enhance the bond between parents and children. Gone are the days where the only ways to get in touch with someone who was apart from you were by letter or telephone.

Instantaneous communication methods like text messaging, video conference and e-mail are wide spread and available to most every person in the State of Texas. Improvements in technology and their mass appeal have led to opportunities to build relationships that were never before possible.

If you are a parent who for whatever reason is not able to exercise visitation with your children by the standard means of physically being with your child, virtual visitation offers families the “next best thing” in terms of togetherness. What does virtual visitation mean and how can it play a role in your life? Today’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan seeks to explain this topic further.

INTRODUCTION TO VIRTUAL VISITATION

Divorce Attorneys Houston – Texas is among several states that have worked virtual visitation into state laws concerning custody and visitation. Any technology that puts you in the same room as your child when you can’t physically be there counts as virtual visitation.

Skype, webcams, cell phones with video capabilities and any similar technologies all count as platforms for virtual visitation. If the goal of a set visitation schedule is to encourage a long lasting relationship between a child and their parent, then virtual visitation can be a key tool to utilize when “normal” visitation is not possible.

An easy example is to consider the parent who is away from home due to their serving in the military. These are parents that are deserving of an opportunity to raise their child and with the help of technologies that allow for virtual visitation they can do exactly that.

WHERE THE LAW ON VIRTUAL VISITATION STANDS IN TEXAS

Divorce Attorney in Houston – As I touched on earlier, Texas law does reflect the possibilities for virtual visitation. It’s not as if many other states don’t allow for it. It’s just that our State Legislators went the extra step and created statutes that reflect the reality of virtual visitation and made it possible for a judge to work this visitation method into child custody orders.

We see virtual visitation implemented on a daily basis by family law courts when periods of electronic communication are either agreed to or ordered by a judge to appear in a child custody or divorce order. These periods of electronic communication would be ordered in addition to the in person visitation that is a part of child custody orders.

The key for each court is to make a decision as to whether or not a virtual visitation schedule is appropriate for a particular family. The number one factor that a judge must consider is whether or not doing so would be in the best interests of the child in question.

If you’ve read any blogs on the website of the Law Office of Bryan Fagan then you knew this one was coming. Number two, the judge must look to each parent and determine whether or not each of them have the ability and wherewithal to get the technology necessary to have virtual visitation sessions. Even though many of us can take these sort of technologies for granted, they are not as readily available as we may think.

As a result, it is a real concern to judges that if he or she award virtual visitation rights to one parent the same right should be extended to the other parent as well.

PROS AND CONS OF VIRTUAL VISITATION

Houston Family Attorney – Like anything else in life, virtual visitation offers its own set of advantages and disadvantages that judges and parties to family law cases need to seriously consider. We’ve already touched on the biggest advantage of virtual visitation, in my opinion, that of allowing parents who are not able to be physically present with their child the opportunity to continue to build a strong parent-child relationship.

This means being able to do things like attending sporting events of their children virtually, taking part in holidays and birthdays virtually as well as assisting with school work and other educational matters. Simply being present in some manner in a real way can make a tremendous difference in the life of your child’s life … Continue Reading