My ex girlfriend will not let me see my 2 young sons. I am paying child support and all I want is to be able to see my sons. What can I do in order to get visitation rights? I would like to pick them up every other weekend at least. What are my rights?

You need to file a petition in family court for visitation rights. Just paying child support doesn't entitle you to visitation, especially if you were never married. But, unless there is an issue about abuse, I seen no reason a court won't grant reasonable visitation.

You'll need to petition the court to have a visitation ordered issued. Spell out exactly what you want. Once you get it, stick to it like glue. If she doesn't do the same, then haul her right back into court.

If you have any thing against your record considering children it could be hard to get visitation. But bring up your case and ask for the things you would like. There will be terms and conditions to your agreement, if the mother doesn't want to give you visitation and you break any of the TaC then she will push to revoke your vistaion. And becareful... to much time in court and a mother telling your kids that you're a bad person (ect.) can hurt the kids, just consider this before pressing to hard for visitation.

I sound like a broken record on this site, but this issue also depends on the state in which you live. I would, however, suggest mediation in this case first. You can find a family law mediator in your area, or look on mediate.com for people. If you begin in mediation, you typically do not have lawyers there duking it out, and you can reach an agreement with both sides feeling better about things. I practice both litigation and mediation, and can tell you which feels more like a red hot poker up the a**! Good luck!

Did you go to court to have child support set? If so, there should be visitation set in the order.

In cases that I have seen, the judge sets visitation when he set child support. The two go together.

It would be nice if the person who asked the questin would actually reply to the questions we ask to get more advice.

We don't know if they have any formal court ordered child support, or child custody order in place. If the support they are paying is court ordered or just what he gives her when he feels like it.

If there is no official court ordered child custody, then it is who ever has the child can make the rules until there is a court ruling or hearing.

And if there is a child visitation order in place, then you have to return to court to get it inforced.

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

It would be nice if the person who asked the questin would actually reply back to the questions we ask to get more advice.

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This happens so often. OP asks a question, the volunteers ask for more info. Some volunteers offer speculation based on the scan info provided. A discussion ensues between volunteers and the OP never comes back to provide the info needed to help.

Ah well.