Last Updated: Nov 4, 2026

Visitation is the time a parent, or sometimes a grandparent, spends with a child who doesn’t live with them most of the time. Pennsylvania law no longer uses the word “visitation.” Since 2011, the custody statute (23 Pa.C.S. Chapter 53) has called this time partial physical custody, or supervised physical custody when another adult must be present. The rights are the same whichever word you use, and they’re enforceable once they’re in a court order.

Graff & Associates helps parents and grandparents in Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware, Bucks, and Chester Counties get a visitation schedule in place, enforce it when the other parent won’t follow it, and change it when life changes. Set up a free consultation to talk through your situation.

Visitation vs. Custody in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania treats all parenting time as a form of custody. “Visitation” fits within these categories (23 Pa.C.S. §§ 5322–5323):

What people call it	What PA law calls it	What it means
Visitation, parenting time	Partial physical custody	The right to have the child for less than a majority of the time
Supervised visitation	Supervised physical custody	Custodial time where an agency or an adult designated by the court, or agreed on by the parents, monitors the parent’s time with the child
Primary custody, residential custody	Primary physical custody	The child lives with this parent the majority of the time
50/50, joint custody	Shared physical custody	Significant time with each parent

A parent with partial physical custody usually still shares legal custody, which is the right to help make major decisions about the child’s education, health care, and religion. Having less time with a child doesn’t mean having less say in those decisions. For the full overview of custody types and how judges decide, see our child custody page.

Who Can Ask for Visitation in PA?

• Either parent, married or unmarried. An unmarried father must first establish paternity, through a signed Acknowledgment of Paternity or genetic testing. Read more about a father’s right to custody and visitation.
• A person who stands in loco parentis, meaning someone who took on a parental role with a parent’s consent.
• Grandparents and great-grandparents, in specific situations (23 Pa.C.S. § 5325): when a parent of the child has died (the deceased parent’s parents or grandparents can file); when the relationship with the child began with a parent’s consent or under a court order, the parents have started a custody case, and they disagree about the grandparents’ time; or when the child lived with the grandparent for at least 12 consecutive months and was removed by the parents (the case must be filed within six months of the removal).

See our page on grandparents’ rights in Pennsylvania.

How Visitation Is Decided

Visitation is decided under the same best-interests standard as every other custody question (23 Pa.C.S. § 5328). Judges give the most weight to factors that affect the child’s safety. They also consider each parent’s role in the child’s life, the child’s need for stability, the distance between homes, work schedules, and the child’s well-reasoned preference.

Parents can agree on a schedule themselves, and most do. An agreement becomes enforceable only when the court approves it and enters it as an order. Without an order, there is nothing to enforce if the other parent stops cooperating.

Common Visitation Schedules in PA

Pennsylvania has no “standard” visitation schedule. The schedule is built around the child’s age, school, and the parents’ homes and jobs. Common partial custody arrangements include:

• Alternating weekends, often Friday after school to Sunday evening, sometimes with a midweek dinner or overnight
• Alternating weekends plus extra summer time, such as several nonconsecutive weeks of vacation
• Shorter, more frequent visits for infants and toddlers, building toward overnights as the child gets older
• Long-distance schedules, with most school breaks and a large share of the summer with the parent who lives farther away
• Holiday and special-day rotations that alternate or split major holidays, birthdays, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day

Good orders also cover exchange times and locations, transportation, phone and video calls between visits, and how parents handle schedule changes. See our guide to co-parenting schedules.

Supervised Visitation in Pennsylvania

A court can order supervised physical custody when unsupervised time would put a child at risk. Common reasons include abuse, a protection from abuse (PFA) history, substance use, serious mental health concerns, threats to take the child, or a long absence from the child’s life that calls for gradual reintroduction.

Kayden’s Law (Act 8 of 2024), effective August 2024, strengthened these rules. When a court finds an ongoing risk of abuse, supervised custody is presumed for the parent who poses that risk, and the court must include safety conditions in the order. Courts should use a professional supervisor, trained in domestic violence, child abuse, and trauma, and can approve a nonprofessional supervisor (such as a relative or family friend) only in limited situations.

Supervision can take place at a supervised visitation center, through a professional monitor, or with a court-approved adult. In most cases the supervised parent pays for professional supervision. Supervised visitation doesn’t have to be permanent. A parent can ask the court to reduce or end supervision by showing the risk has been addressed, for example through completed treatment, counseling, or a sustained record of safe visits.

If you’re the parent seeking protection, supervision can let your child keep a relationship with the other parent safely. If supervision has been ordered against you, it’s often the path back to unsupervised time. Either way, the order’s details, such as who supervises, where, how long, and what has to happen to change it, matter a great deal.

What to Do If Visitation Is Denied

If the other parent won’t follow a custody order, Pennsylvania courts can enforce it.

1. Keep a record. Note every missed exchange, cancellation, and message. Save texts and emails.
2. Don’t take matters into your own hands. Don’t withhold child support, and don’t keep the child past your time in return. Support and custody are separate, and self-help can hurt your case.
3. File a petition for contempt in the county that issued the order (Pa.R.C.P. 1915.12).

A parent who willfully disobeys a custody order can be held in contempt. Penalties include up to six months in jail, a fine of up to $500, up to six months of probation, suspension of a driver’s license, and payment of the other parent’s counsel fees and costs (23 Pa.C.S. § 5323(g)). Courts can also order make-up time or modify the schedule. Repeated interference is also a factor the court weighs in future custody decisions.

No order yet? Without a court order, police and courts generally can’t enforce a visitation arrangement. The answer is to file a custody complaint so a schedule can be ordered. Learn about enforcing family court orders.

What If My Child Refuses to Visit?

Pennsylvania sets no age at which a child can refuse court-ordered visitation. The parent with the child is generally expected to encourage the visits. A teenager’s well-reasoned objection can support a request to modify the schedule. A young child’s refusal, or one that appears coached, usually won’t. If a child’s refusal is about safety, talk to a lawyer about asking the court for a change rather than simply stopping visits.

Changing a Visitation Schedule

Either parent can ask to modify visitation at any time if the change is in the child’s best interests (23 Pa.C.S. § 5338). Common reasons include a new job or work schedule, a child starting school, a child’s activities and changing needs, a parent’s move, or one parent repeatedly not following the order. A parent who wants to relocate in a way that significantly affects the other parent’s time must give written notice, generally at least 60 days ahead (23 Pa.C.S. § 5337).

How Graff & Associates Can Help

Our visitation attorneys can:

• File for partial physical custody and negotiate a workable visitation schedule
• Seek supervised visitation when a child’s safety is at risk, or defend against it
• Petition to reduce or end supervision
• File contempt petitions when visitation is denied
• Modify visitation schedules as children grow and circumstances change
• Represent grandparents seeking visitation

Related services: child custody, grandparents’ rights, protection from abuse, enforcement, and child support. Pennsylvania’s custody law is in 23 Pa.C.S. Chapter 53.

Frequently Asked Questions About Visitation in PA

Talk to a Philadelphia Visitation Lawyer

Time with your child shouldn’t depend on the other parent’s mood. Graff & Associates helps parents and grandparents in Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware, Bucks, and Chester Counties put clear, enforceable visitation schedules in place and protect them in court.

Graff & Associates, LLC
Phone: 215-572-6868
123 Old York Road, Suite 200, Jenkintown, PA 19046

This page provides general information about Pennsylvania law and is not legal advice. Contact an attorney about your specific situation.