NSW Visitation Rights - Ex Insisting on Supervision During Visitations?

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GoodParent

Member
24 November 2016
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Hi..

I'm currently going through a separation and divorce from my wife. We have an 11-month-old baby boy. Since separating 4 months ago, my ex has only let me see my son every 3-4 weeks for 2 hours and under the supervision of her father and his friend. Even getting an off duty police officer to be present on one occasion who intimated and harassed me, saying that I have no rights to see my son.

I did object to this via my lawyer and was told that she has primary custody and therefore I need to comply by her rules and regulations. She alleges emotional abuse. We argued a lot and that is why I made the decision to separate. At no time was there any physical abuse, nor did we ever argue in front of our son. There are no allegations of physical abuse nor have I ever laid a hand in anger against my ex.

She alleges that I bullied and emotionally abused her and therefore, she feels that visits with my son should be limited and supervised. She also says that because I haven't been with him regularly I don't know his schedule. I have asked her via email on a number of occasions to email me his schedule but she has ignored my requests.

Since the day that I moved out, I have been paying weekly child support. I have never phoned her, all our communication has been by email and I have only asked about our son and been very polite to her. I am a professional that has been cleared to work with children by the NSW government, I have never committed a crime, nor do I use drugs or drink alcohol. Due to my work I can't just pack up and leave and therefore will never abduct my son.

We are due to go for mediation in the next couple of weeks but she is insisting on supervised visitation and for that supervision to be either by her or her father. I won't agree to that and am going to be asking for visitation of at least 10 hours/ week broken down over 2-3 days, increasing as he gets older.

I feel that the only option that is left is to go to family court.

My question is..will a judge agree with her that I need supervised visitation rights and what reasonable access will I be able to get?

Thank you
 

Rod

Lawyer
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27 May 2014
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How about you suggest you have primary care and she have supervised access?
 

sammy01

Well-Known Member
27 September 2015
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Appleton, start your own thread and give us some detail and you'll get some advice.
The age of the child is the biggest problem in this situation, far more so than an ex- wife / partner who is intent refusing access...