In a paternity case, the court can give visitation rights to one of the parents.
If both parents have signed the Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage form and you need to go to court to get visitation rights, you file a Complaint for Support-Custody-Visitation and check the appropriate boxes in paragraph 7. You also file the Acknowledgment.
If you are filing a Complaint to Establish Paternity and need a visitation order, check off the appropriate box in paragraph 6.
The judge can make a temporary visitation order while the case is going on. To get a temporary visitation order, you file a motion along with an affidavit and a proposed order.
Is the court supposed to consider domestic violence when it makes a visitation order?
Yes.
If the court decides that a pattern or serious incident of abuse has occurred, then if it orders visitation for the abusive parent the court must provide for the safety and well-being of the child and the safety of the abused parent.
This law applies whether or not the parents are marreid to each other.
For more information see Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 209C, section 10.
Produced by Jeff Wolf, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute Created November, 2011