(0:00 – 2:52)
Hi, everyone. Welcome to Family Law Matters. I’m Dr. Michael Mantell, joining Bonnie Rabinovitch Mantel, owner and managing partner of the Primus Family Law Group.

Hi, Bonnie. Hi, Michael. How are you today? I’m doing well, thank you.

Today, we’re going to take a topic that I think people take for granted in understanding, so we’re going to break it down a little bit. The question is, what does it really mean to have supervised visitation? What does supervised mean? Well, you know, Michael, there are two kinds of supervised visitation. There is professional supervised visitation, where the court has determined that a parent, there’s a safety risk concerning a parent visiting or being with their child unsupervised without somebody watching them.

And so if a court orders professional supervised visitation, usually the parent who is supervised has to pay an hourly rate for someone, a monitor, to watch them. And there are several of those court approved monitors around San Diego County, and it’s all done to keep the safety of the child while still fostering a relationship with the parent. The second type is nonprofessional, also ordered by a court, but usually then the danger is not so severe.

And we can have maybe a family friend or a family member, a third party, provide the supervision of the visitation. But the roles are exactly the same. You are never to allow the child alone with the parent, not in a bathroom, not in any situation whatsoever.

You have to be able to see the child and the parent. And even the nonprofessional one, the family member or just a friend has to sign a document under penalty of perjury that gets filed with the court that says, I understand these obligations and I will follow that. Is it common for the youngster involved in this to be required to see a mental health professional to initiate this process? Not to initiate it because the monitor is there in the background.

There’s not supposed to be any real interaction unless the monitor has to drive the child or, you know, what the parameters are. Whether or not that child goes into therapy is a different request from the court. And it also depends obviously on the age of the child and insurance coverage and what these parents can afford because unfortunately a lot of what we do is stymied by what they can afford.

(2:53 – 3:55)
Professionally supervised visitation, Michael, can be somewhere around 40 to 80 dollars an hour. And if you’re ordered or you’re allotted up to eight hours a week with your child, well, basic math, let’s do it at 50 bucks an hour is 400 dollars a week just to see your child. Not very many people have that money hanging around.

That’s 1900 dollars a month. At the same level, let’s bring this down. What would commonly initiate the call for supervised visitation? Domestic violence, child abuse, child witnessing abuse, alcoholism, substance abuse, things that pose a safety to the child and, you know, and the child’s not necessarily old enough to be able to call for help themselves.

(3:56 – 4:54)
That’s a sad situation. It really is. And thankfully, there are people like you, Bonnie, and Primus Family Law who know how to talk to people in a compassionate, caring way about a very difficult situation.

If people have questions about supervised visitation, the impact it will have, how to get this done, how can they reach you at Primus Family Law? Well, they can reach us directly at 619-574-8000 and you will be put on mine or one of my other wonderful attorneys who we’re all certified family law specialists will be put on one of our calendars for a free 30 minute Zoom or telephone conversation. And you can reach us online at www.PrimusFamilyLaw.com. There’s a form to fill out for that consultation. There’s a live chat agent who will get you over.

So we want to help you. Just reach out.