Child Custody / Visitation / Contact

No ! Where there is a conflict regarding visitation rights – including overnight stays – with the non-custodial parent, the court, and not the custodial parent ,has the final say. It can extend visitation rights to include overnight stays even if the custodial parent objects.

Yes ! Courts recognise that a non-custodial parent also has a right to host his/her child overnight and can order changes in visitation rights to effect this – even if the custodial parent objects. A father who is a non-custodial parent who wants his child to sleep over during visitation rights should apply to court for a change in visitation rights to allow overnight stays. The court may order a supplementary report to be made by a social worker or use the latest one to guide it. It does not matter if the parents are unmarried and live apart.

In the absence of agreement on the part of the custodial parent, the non-custodial parent wishing to extend visitation to include overnight stays should file for a change in visitation at the court.

Generally courts do not permit overnight visitation rights before a child reaches the age of two. Where a father with visitation rights regarding his one year old son had applied for these to include overnight stays, the Tel Aviv Family Court refused to consider this until he reached two, relying on the book ‘Sleeping Like A Baby’ by Dr. Avi Sadeh.