News
03Apr
03Apr

Visitation Rights for Divorced Parents of Adult Disabled Children

By HSK, April 3, 2014

Our very own 11th District court of appeals has ruled that the divorced parents of an adult disabled child may be given visitation rights over the objection of the other parent if such visitation is in the best interests of the adult child.  The court further held that there is no absolute right to either parent to have visitation, and upheld the Geauga county probate court’s denial of the father’s visitation request because the adult child did not want it and the court determined it was not in the child’s best interests.  Probate court is the only court that can handle visitation issues between divorced parents of an adult disabled child.  You need a probate attorney who is able to handle such a case for you in the probate court.

Comments (7)

Reply →
Sue Taylor
2023-11-03 23:44:21

To Sarah...I know in NH after my disabled son was out of high school, my ex husband decided he no longer would be taking him unless I paid HIM! His rationale for this was that " He was not going to be my babysitter". Since I have sole guardianship and had physical custody with him having visitation prior to him turning 21 and I wanted to continue to have physical custody but wanted to have him take him every other weekend, but he refused and I was told I could not force him to take my son. Not only that but NH has no law requiring noncustodial parents to continue to pay child support after age 21 (or when child graduates high school). Double whammy here. So I think it depends on which state you are in. I'm currently going to file a petition to have his parental rights taken away as he hasn't seen him in over 4 years. I don't know how a parent can just abandon a child like that. It's absolutely disgraceful. Good luck to you.

Reply →
Billie Bunn
2023-09-10 11:56:06

My husband ex wife, has a new boyfriend. Since the boyfriend has been in picture, my son has been evicted of seeing his adult son, whom has dushenne muscular dystrophy. His life spam is at 20 and hes 19. My husband is devasted. We need help, no matter what situation is between parents, it should not be between parent and child.

Reply →
Sherrie
2023-02-04 17:12:46

I’m am the sole custodian and guardian of my 25 year old disabled daughter. I finally got her fathers visitation limited to 3 hours every other Saturday and Sunday. My question is do these visits continue for the rest of our lives? We are wanting to retire and travel but we can’t go anywhere for a longer period than 12 days.

Reply →
Sara
2022-08-25 21:02:04

I am divorced and the mother of an adult disabled child. I am his conservator of person. He is 23. When he turned 18, his court ordered child support ended. My attorney should have helped plan for continued support. I agreed to continue without monetary support as long as his father continued to provide me respite every other weekend and 50/50 during summer. He is a teacher. We have a younger son on this schedule so we just kept it the same. Now my ex has told me that next July (when are younger sons custody ends), he no longer wants physical custody of my disabled son. He says because I am his sold conservator, I am solely responsible for physical custody and that he will start to pay child support again. Is it true that he is no longer required to provide care for his disabled child and that I waived my rights when becoming his conservator? Or, can I legally require help or funding from him to provide the same respite? He wants to put him in a home. He is happy with me. I just need a break sometimes.

Reply →
Krystal Wake
2017-06-14 19:54:31

Can anyone give me any specific case law that allows for visitation of an adult disablex child against the objection of a custodial parent? I see that this is a probate court matter and the 11th circuit court upheld tbiz right in april of 2015, but i cant find specific case law to file with the probate court

Reply →
Brenda
2014-08-22 00:27:11

What are the basic human right of an adult with mild-moderate disability who wants to see their family members but the parent whom they live with refuses to allow visits? Can anyone answer this?

Reply →
Margaret @ Henderson probate attorney
2014-07-18 08:10:52

This is a very interesting topic! It’s important to get an experienced probate lawyer on your side to help you with this kind of problem.

Add your comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *