Hello. I have a situation in which my step daughter's biological mother who's has not seen my step daughter or given any type of child support in over 10 years is now trying to say she wants to exercise her right to supervised visitation as specified in her divorce papers-10 years ago. We actually do go to court at the end of August for the fact that she is $40,000 dollars behind in support. I am wondering that when we go, if she does request visitation to be reinstated, does she actually have a chance to get it? I mean it has been 10 years. Is there a point in which she gave up that right?

There are different laws based on the state that you are in regarding abandoment. However, if she wants to see her she will most likely not be denied the right to see her. What state are you in?

I am in Indiana. Do you know what her chance is in Indiana.

Abandonment is a grounds for getting a termination of parental rights (TPR). Unless you got a TPR then her rights remain, even though she hasn't exercised them. In addition the support is kept separate from the visitation. So, there is a good likelihood that she will get visitation. You can probably get it restricted to supervised visitation initially.

Child Welfare Information Gateway

She has the right to her supervised visitation. The support order and visitation order are legally separate. So, if she wants to exercise her visitation she will be able to do so.