Do registered sex offenders have rights to custody and visitation with their children in family court?
The mere fact that a parent or someone that the parent lives with is a registered sexual offender is prima facie (concrete) evidence that the children are at significant risk and that unsupervised contact with the other parent is not what is best for the child. I have seen situations where a parent's new significant other is a registered sex offender and that the parent was unaware. Worse yet, I have seen a case where a mother had a child with her registered sex offender boyfriend and had visitations that would take place without her significant other's presence.
The presumption that a child is at significant risk based on one parent being a registered sex offender does not apply when BOTH parents are registered sex offenders. It does happen and I have seen firsthand a case where both parents had a child and both parents were registered sex offenders. Since both parents were registered offenders, the presumption did not apply and other criteria had to be used.
Navigating child custody and visitation rights can be extremely difficult if a register sex offender is involved. If you are confronted with either of these situations, contact Covina Child Custody Attorney Paul Eads today.