Visitation is a word for a guest, the Karnataka High Court has said while directing courts to use parenting time instead of visitation in child custody cases, since no parent is a visitor in a child’s life.
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Bengaluru: Courts should speak of parenting time, not visitation, in child custody cases, the Karnataka High Court has directed. The direction came as the Court partly modified a family court’s arrangement for a father’s contact with his nine-year-old child [Mother v. Father].
The order was passed by Justice Lalitha Kanneganti on a petition by the mother against the family court’s parenting arrangement.
The problem with the word
Justice Kanneganti held that the word visitation gives a child the wrong idea of a parent’s place in their life:
“A child should not be made to understand the relationship through the word ‘visitation,’ which is used for someone who arrives and leaves as a guest.”
Each case has to be assessed on its own facts, the Court stressed, and a formulaic parenting plan should not be applied mechanically.
The arrangement under challenge
The couple separated in 2017. The child, now nine, lives with the mother, and the father last saw the child at three months old. The family court granted the wife a divorce and relief under the domestic violence law. It gave the father weekend contact from 11 AM to 7 PM, half of the school vacations and calls on alternate days.
What changed
The High Court stayed the allocation of half of the vacations to the father and granted him parenting time of two days a month, from 10 AM to 2 PM. It also adjusted the 30-minute call time fixed by the family court.
What it means for custody orders
Custody orders across India routinely speak of visitation rights for the non-custodial parent. A change of vocabulary, as directed here, signals that a parent’s time with the child is part of the child’s life and is to be shaped to the child’s circumstances, not treated as a guest appearance. The order also reaffirms that parenting plans are to be tailored case by case.
Case Title: Mother v. Father (names withheld to protect the child)
Bench: Justice Lalitha Kanneganti, Karnataka High Court
Appearances: Advocate Anita Abraham (wife); Advocate Anushree A. (husband)