Virtual Visitation Bill May Help Non-Custodial Parents

By Christina Rentz

Published on August 02, 2005

When Michael Gough's divorce was finalized in 2003, he was determined to stay involved in his daughter's life. However, with his wife moving from Utah to Wisconsin and with him professionally bound to Utah, he knew this would be difficult.

Michael petitioned the court to grant him virtual visitations via a video conferencing system. However, his ex-wife opposed the idea and it was the first time the judge had ever considered such a request.

Michael was determined and successfully lobbied for the bill. Utah is the only state thus far to pass a bill that enables family court judges to order "virtual visitations" as part of the divorce decree.

Since then, Michael has moved to Wisconsin in order to be closer to his daughter. He is now pushing for similar legislation in Wisconsin. The proposed Wisconsin bill states that if the child custody agreement stipulates that physical custody of the child must be split between parents, judges may grant a reasonable amount of electronic communication between the child and parent while in the other's parent's custody. Electronic communication is defined in the bill as phone, email, instant messaging, and video conferencing.

Certain father's rights organizations have opposed the bill, fearing it will be utilized to replace physical visitations. However, the language of the Wisconsin bill clearly prevents a judge from replacing physical visitations with electronic communication. Furthermore, judges could not use the bill to warrant the custodial parent moving away with the child.

Custodial parents may oppose electronic communication because it is too expensive or disrupts their time with the child. However, a representative from the family law section of the Utah State Bar says judges will have to consider these objections on a case-by-case basis, viewed in light of all the other circumstances of the individual case.

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