Q&A: california child visitation rights divorced parents?

Question by Mike: california child visitation rights divorced parents? My girlfriend has sole custody of her child. She's been divorced for about a year now but the father of the child hasn't seen the child for about 2 years now. Due to his failure to appear in court for the child custody hearing my girlfriend was awarded sole custody. Oh and she also has a restraining order (protection order) for herself and the child against the ex-spouse for the next 6 years. All of a sudden the father of the child wants visitation. Can anyone explain how this works in California (Los Angeles)? How much visitation will he get? Anyway to stop his visitation or have them monitor until the child is of age (18 years old)? Can the father of the child disrupt the childs current living status (i.e. not permit her to continue to attend the private school she current is enrolled in, not permit her to participate in her dance classes, etc.)? The child's mother resides in Los Angeles and the father has no established residence anywhere. He may try to use his sister's address in Los Angeles or his parents address in Bakersfield area. Would he be allowed to take the child to Bakersfield for any visitation he is granted? Ideally we would like there to be no visitation. But if there must be some visitation then we'd prefer it to be monitored and within the Los Angeles area, is that possible? We're afraid that the father of the child may take the child and run. He has no established residence except living with relatives and no established employment (he does not pay the court order child support). So it's hard to track his whereabouts. The divorce was very bitter and he has shown aggression in the past. If you are a Family Law Attorney, you help, answers, and any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. This will definitely tear our family apart. We've worked so hard to build a happy life for my girlfrien's daughter. I work very hard so she has the best education, etc. With the father now wanting visitation rights, I know he will want to pull her out of school just because he is spiteful. Please help!!! Thank you. -M- Best answer:

Answer by ouragon
Doesn't the restraining order kind of preclude unsupervised visitation? This child has a father. He's a nightmare, but never forget that your girlfriend chose him to be the father of her child. It's likely that he'll get supervised visitation.

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