In short. A father can get visitation rights by applying to the family court under Section 26 of the Hindu Marriage Act in a pending divorce case, or under the Guardians and Wards Act. Courts usually order weekend meetings, overnight stays, a share of holidays and daily video calls, as the Supreme Court said in Yashita Sahu (2020). Access is limited only if it would harm the child.
Most fathers who come to a lawyer about visitation have not seen their child for weeks or months, and the longer it goes on the harder the first meeting becomes. The law is on the side of contact. What decides how quickly you get it, and how much, is how you apply, what you propose, and how you behave once meetings start.
This post is about the father's time with the child: what to ask for, how courts set schedules, what happens at the first supervised meetings, how video contact works, and what to do if the order is not followed. Who gets custody in the first place is a separate question, covered in our post on how Indian courts decide child custody after divorce. For family cases in general, see our family and divorce law page.
- Law
- Section 26 Hindu Marriage Act; Sections 7, 12 and 25 Guardians and Wards Act 1890
- Forum
- Family court hearing the divorce, or where the child ordinarily resides
- Typical order
- Alternate weekends, half of long vacations, festivals, birthdays, daily video calls
- Video contact
- Recognised as a right of the parent without custody (Yashita Sahu, 2020)
- Enforcement
- Execution, contempt, make-up time and, in serious cases, a change of custody
- Maintenance
- Separate from visitation; one cannot be withheld for the other
Does a father have a right to see his child after separation?
Yes. Indian courts treat contact with both parents as part of the child's welfare, and they grant visitation to the parent without custody unless there is a strong reason not to. A separation, a divorce case or even a criminal complaint between the spouses does not take away a father's place in the child's life. He also remains a natural guardian of a Hindu minor under Section 6 of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act 1956, whoever has day-to-day custody.
The courts frame it as the child's right more than the father's. A child who grows up cut off from one parent loses something the law considers important: identity, family on both sides, and the security of knowing both parents care. That is why judges are impatient with a custodial parent who blocks contact without reason, and equally impatient with a father who asks for access and then does not turn up.
There is no automatic right to any particular amount of time. The schedule depends on the child's age, school, health, the distance between homes, how involved the father was before separation and how long it has been since the child last saw him. The work is in building a schedule the court will accept and the child can manage.
What can a father ask for: visitation, overnight access, holidays and contact?
A father can ask for several kinds of time, and a good application asks for all of them, in a sensible order. Day visitation means meetings for a few hours, often on Saturday or Sunday. Overnight or staying access means the child spends one or two nights at the father's home, usually on alternate weekends. Vacation access means a block of days in the summer and winter breaks, often half of each long vacation for older children. Festival and occasion access covers Diwali, Eid, Christmas, the child's birthday and the father's birthday, usually alternating each year.
Contact rights are separate from physical meetings. They include phone or video calls at fixed times, messages for older children, and the right to be told about and attend school events, parent-teacher meetings and medical appointments. Many fathers forget to ask for information rights: copies of report cards, the name of the school and treating doctors, and notice before any change of school. These matter as much as weekends, especially where the child lives in another city.
If the father has not seen the child for a long time, or the child is very young, the court will usually start with short supervised meetings and build up. Asking for full overnight access at the first hearing for a three-year-old who has not seen you for a year rarely works. Asking for a graded plan, with dates for each step, usually does.
What a visitation schedule usually looks like at different ages
These are common patterns in Delhi family courts, not rules. Courts tailor them to the child and the family.
| Child's age | Regular time | Holidays and occasions | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 3 | Short meetings, 2 to 3 hours, once or twice a week, often in the mother's presence at first | Brief visits on birthdays and festivals | Video calls a few times a week, at a time that suits the child's routine |
| 3 to 6 | Day visits on alternate weekends, moving to one overnight once the child is comfortable | A few days in long vacations, alternate festivals | Short daily or alternate-day video calls |
| 6 to 12 | Alternate weekends from Saturday to Sunday evening, sometimes one weekday dinner | Half of summer and winter vacations; alternate festivals and birthdays | Daily calls at a fixed time; access to school information |
| 12 and above | Flexible, often agreed with the child around school and activities | Longer vacation blocks; trips with the father | Direct phone and messaging; the child's own wishes carry weight |
Where the parents live in different cities, courts usually trade frequency for length: fewer weekends, but longer vacation blocks and more video contact, with an order about who pays for travel and who accompanies a young child.
How family courts decide the visitation schedule
The court asks what amount and pattern of contact serves this child. These are the points that move the schedule up or down.
- The child's age and routine. Infants need short, frequent contact; school-age children need weekends and holidays that do not disrupt school.
- The father's past involvement. A father who did the school run and bedtimes before separation is usually given more time, sooner.
- The gap since the last meeting. A long gap usually means supervised meetings first, then a graded increase.
- Distance and travel. Who travels, how far, and the cost.
- The child's health and special needs. Medicines, therapy schedules and dietary needs shape overnight access.
- Safety concerns. Allegations of violence, alcohol or drug abuse, or a risk of removal from the country lead to supervision or conditions, if shown with some material.
- The child's wishes. For older children, what the child says about the schedule matters, after the judge checks it is the child's own view.
- Each parent's attitude. A parent who supports the child's relationship with the other parent gains credibility; a parent who obstructs it loses it.
Video calls and contact rights: what the Supreme Court said in Yashita Sahu
In Yashita Sahu v State of Rajasthan (2020) the Supreme Court said that when one parent is given custody, the court should, unless there are special circumstances, give the other parent visitation rights so that the child stays in touch with both. It said contact rights through phone or video calls are also important, and that the parent without custody should be allowed to speak to the child regularly, even daily for a short time, where the child is not with that parent. Family courts in Delhi now routinely include video calls in access orders.
Video contact works well only when the order is specific: the days, the time window, the length, the platform, and who sets up the call for a young child. "Reasonable telephonic contact" invites argument. A father who lives abroad or in another state may depend on video calls for most of the year, so it is worth asking for a slightly longer call on weekends and a fixed time that fits both time zones.
Courts also expect fathers to use video contact sensibly. Calls that turn into questions about the mother, the case or the child's daily life at her home, or that run long past the child's attention span, tend to be cut back. Short, warm and regular calls build the relationship that makes overnight access possible later.
How to apply for visitation rights in a Delhi family court
The route is the same in the family courts at Saket, Tis Hazari, Karkardooma, Rohini, Dwarka and Patiala House, and broadly similar in Noida and Ghaziabad.
Choose the case to apply in
If a divorce or other Hindu Marriage Act case is pending, apply for interim visitation in that case under Section 26. If not, file a guardianship and custody petition under the Guardians and Wards Act in the family court where the child ordinarily resides, with an application for interim access under Section 12.
Write a specific proposal
Do not just ask for "visitation". Set out the days, times, place, pick-up and drop arrangements, video call times and holiday split you want, and a graded plan if the gap has been long.
Ask for an early hearing
Point out how long it has been since you last met the child. Courts treat contact as urgent, because each month of separation makes the next meeting harder.
First meetings at court
The court often directs the first one or two meetings at the court premises or the mediation centre, in the presence of a counsellor, before any outside visitation.
Counselling and mediation
The court counsellor or mediator works with both parents on a schedule. A plan agreed here is recorded by the court and becomes an order.
Interim order and review
The court fixes interim visitation and lists the matter to review how it is going. Turn up on time for every meeting; the review date is when your attendance is checked.
Final order
The final order is made with the custody decision or the divorce decree. An appeal lies to the High Court within 30 days under the Family Courts Act 1984.
When Advocate B.K. Singh drafts a visitation application, the part he spends most time on is the proposed schedule, worked out with the child's school timetable and the travel time between homes. A court is far more likely to adopt a realistic plan that is already on paper than to build one from scratch at a crowded hearing.
What to prepare before you file
About the child
- Birth certificate
- Name of the school, class and timetable, if you know it
- Medical details: allergies, medicines, treating doctor
- The date and circumstances of your last meeting with the child
About your involvement
- Photographs and messages showing ordinary time with the child before separation
- School or medical records showing you attended
- Proof of payments you have made towards the child since separation
- Any messages showing requests to meet and the replies
About your proposal
- A written schedule: weekends, weekday calls, holidays, festivals, birthdays
- Your home address and the space for the child to stay
- Who will be at home during overnight stays
- Travel arrangements and who will pick up and drop the child
What happens at the first supervised meetings?
Where the father has not seen the child for a while, or the mother raises a concern, the court usually starts with meetings at the court complex: a children's room or the mediation centre where available, or the counsellor's room, for an hour or two, sometimes with the mother waiting nearby. These meetings are not a test of the father, but they are watched, and the counsellor may report on how they went.
Bring something simple to do together: a book, a board game, drawing material. Do not bring expensive gifts every time, do not ask the child about the mother or where the child would rather live, and do not take photographs of the child to use in the case. Keep the meeting about the child. If the child is shy or cries at first, that is normal after a gap, and counsellors know it; what they watch is whether the child settles over the hour and over the next few meetings.
Once two or three meetings have gone well, ask the court to move to unsupervised day visits, and then to overnight access. Courts are usually willing to step up quickly when the reports are good. A father who misses supervised meetings, arrives late, or argues with the mother in front of the child will find the next step takes much longer.
From no contact to a full schedule
Here's a made-up example. Sameer and Neha separated when their daughter Ira was four. Neha moved to her parents' home in Indirapuram with Ira and stopped answering Sameer's calls after he filed for divorce. Seven months went by without a meeting. Sameer applied for interim visitation in his divorce case at the Karkardooma family court, with a written plan: two supervised meetings at the court, then Saturday day visits, then alternate weekend overnights after two months, video calls on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7 pm, and half of each long vacation after six months.
Neha objected that Ira had not seen her father for months and was frightened of change. The court directed two meetings in the presence of the court counsellor. Ira was quiet at the first meeting and played happily by the end of the second. The counsellor reported that the meetings went well. The court then allowed Saturday visits from 11 am to 5 pm with pick-up and drop at Neha's parents' gate, the three weekly video calls, and listed the matter after eight weeks.
Sameer did not miss a visit. At the review, the court added alternate-weekend overnights. Six months later the parties agreed a full parenting plan in mediation, including vacations and festivals, and it was recorded. A real case can move faster or slower; the point is that a specific, graded plan, followed exactly, is what moves a court from supervised meetings to a full schedule.
Can the mother stop visitation because maintenance is not paid?
No. Visitation and maintenance are separate obligations, and neither can be used as a lever for the other. A mother cannot refuse court-ordered access because the father is behind on child support, and a father cannot stop paying because he is not being allowed to see the child. Each has its own remedy: the mother can enforce maintenance, and the father can enforce visitation.
In practice, the two affect each other in court. A father who pays regularly and on time stands in a much stronger position when he asks for more time or complains that access is being blocked. A father who is in arrears will often find the court asking about payment first. If you are struggling to pay what was ordered, apply to change the amount; do not just stop. For how maintenance is fixed, see our post on how courts decide interim maintenance.
What if the mother does not follow the visitation order?
A visitation order is a court order, and wilful refusal to follow it has consequences. The first step is usually an application in the same family court pointing out each missed meeting with dates and messages. The court can direct compliance, give make-up time for missed visits, impose costs, and in some cases direct that handovers take place at the court complex or another neutral place. Keep a simple log: date, time, what was supposed to happen, what happened, and copies of messages.
For repeated and deliberate disobedience, the father can file for contempt. In Delhi, civil contempt of a family court's order is usually taken to the High Court; our post on contempt petitions when a court order is not followed explains the process. Courts use contempt sparingly in family matters because jailing a child's mother rarely helps the child, but the threat often brings compliance.
In serious cases, persistent refusal of access is a ground to vary custody itself. Courts have treated a parent's sustained effort to cut a child off from the other parent as against the child's welfare. A complaint to the police about a missed visit, on the other hand, rarely helps; the police will generally tell you to go back to the family court, and the attempt can make the next hearing harder.
What if the child refuses to meet the father?
A young child's refusal is not treated as final. Courts look at why the child is refusing: a long gap, anxiety about change, loyalty to the parent the child lives with, something that happened during an earlier visit, or influence from the custodial home. The usual response is counselling and a slower, graded return to contact, not cancelling access.
With older children, especially teenagers, the court gives real weight to what the child says, but it still checks whether the view is the child's own. Where a child repeats adult language about the father or refuses without any reason, the court may suspect parental alienation, which the Supreme Court recognised as harmful in Vivek Singh v Romani Singh (2017). The father's own conduct matters here too. Pushing a reluctant teenager into overnight stays usually backfires. Showing up reliably, keeping calls short and friendly, and accepting a slower pace usually works better over a few months.
Visitation when the mother and child live in another city or abroad
When the child lives far away, the court usually shifts time from weekends into longer blocks in school holidays, adds more video contact, and fixes who pays for travel and who travels with a young child. A father in Delhi whose child lives in Bengaluru might get a week in each winter break and three weeks in summer, alternate festivals, and visits in Bengaluru on agreed weekends with notice.
If the move happened after the order, the father can apply to vary the schedule. If the mother plans to take the child abroad, the father can ask the court for an order that the child not be taken out of India without permission and that the passport be deposited. Where the divorce case itself is in the wrong city for the child's convenience, a transfer petition in a matrimonial case may be needed. Fathers living abroad have extra issues of appearance and recognition of orders; our post on NRI divorce covers those.
Visitation while a cruelty case or FIR is pending
A pending criminal case against the father, such as a complaint of cruelty under Section 85 BNS, does not by itself bar visitation. Family courts decide access on the child's welfare, and an allegation against the father as a husband is not the same as a finding that he is a danger to the child. Where the allegation does concern the child, the court may order supervised meetings until things are clearer.
Two practical points. First, check your bail conditions. If bail was granted on a condition not to contact the complainant, ask the criminal court to clarify that contact for handovers and visitation ordered by the family court is allowed; our post on changing bail conditions explains how. Second, keep every contact with the mother short, polite and in writing, and arrange handovers through a neutral person where possible. For the criminal case itself, see facing a cruelty case under Section 85 BNS.
Can grandparents get time with the child?
Grandparents do not have a separate statutory right to visitation, but courts often make room for them, usually as part of the father's time. A visitation order can say that the child may spend part of the father's weekend or vacation with the paternal grandparents, or that they may attend birthdays. Where the father has died or lives abroad, grandparents can apply under the Guardians and Wards Act for access themselves, and courts decide those applications on the child's welfare like any other.
The same rule applies to the mother's side. If the father has custody, the maternal grandparents can be given time too. Children usually benefit from keeping both families, and courts tend to favour orders that keep those ties.
How to conduct yourself during visitation
Your behaviour during the first months of visitation decides how quickly the schedule grows. Keep to these.
- Arrive on time for every meeting and every video call, and leave on time.
- Never miss a visit you asked for without informing in writing in advance.
- Do not discuss the case, the mother or the mother's family with the child.
- Do not ask the child where he or she wants to live.
- Do not use visits to collect evidence, photograph the child for the case, or record conversations.
- Follow the child's routine: meals, sleep, homework and medicines.
- Keep handovers short and polite; no arguments in front of the child.
- Keep paying maintenance in full and on time, by bank transfer.
- Keep a log of every meeting and call, including the ones that did not happen.
Changing the schedule as the child grows
Visitation orders can be changed when circumstances change, and they should be, because a schedule that suits a four-year-old does not suit a ten-year-old. Either parent can apply to vary access: to add overnights, extend vacation time, adjust to a new school timetable or deal with a move. Many parents simply agree changes in writing and file them in court so that the order stays current.
If the case is likely to go further, appeals from family court orders go to the Delhi High Court, and on rare occasions custody and access disputes reach the Supreme Court. Most visitation disputes, though, are solved by a detailed, realistic schedule and steady conduct over a few months. Mediation at the family court is often the quickest route to that schedule; see mediation in Delhi family courts.
If you have not seen your child for a while and want to know how to start, the team of Advocate B.K. Singh can read your papers and help you draft a graded visitation plan the court is likely to accept. Send the details through our online legal enquiry, read about his practice on the profile of Advocate B.K. Singh, or see how we handle matters at the Delhi family courts.
Frequently asked questions
Can a father get visitation rights if the mother has custody?
Yes. Courts grant visitation to the parent without custody in almost every case, because contact with both parents is part of the child's welfare. It is refused or restricted only where contact would harm the child.
How do I file for visitation rights as a father?
If a divorce case is pending, apply in that case under Section 26 of the Hindu Marriage Act. Otherwise, file a petition under the Guardians and Wards Act in the family court where the child lives, with an application for interim access. Attach a specific proposed schedule.
How often can a father see his child after divorce?
There is no fixed rule. A common order for a school-age child is alternate weekends, half of long vacations, alternate festivals and birthdays, and regular video calls. Younger children and long gaps usually mean shorter, more frequent meetings to begin with.
Can the mother refuse to let the father meet the child?
Not without a court order or a genuine safety reason. If there is a visitation order, refusing to follow it can lead to make-up time, costs, contempt and even a change of custody. If there is no order yet, apply for interim visitation at once.
Can a father get overnight visitation of a young child?
Yes, once the child is comfortable with the father, often from around three or four years. Courts usually begin with day visits and move to overnights after a few successful weeks. For infants, overnight access is less common.
Does a father have a right to video calls with his child?
Yes. In Yashita Sahu v State of Rajasthan (2020) the Supreme Court said the parent without custody should have contact rights by phone or video, even daily for a short time. Ask for fixed days, times and length in the order.
Can I stop paying maintenance if I am not allowed to meet my child?
No. Maintenance and visitation are separate, and stopping payment exposes you to recovery proceedings. Enforce the visitation order instead, and keep paying, because regular payment strengthens your case for more time.
What is supervised visitation?
Meetings that take place in the presence of a counsellor or another person, often at the family court or mediation centre. Courts use it when the father has not seen the child for a long time or a safety concern has been raised. It is usually a first step, not permanent.
Can a father see his child while a 498A or Section 85 BNS case is pending?
Yes. A pending cruelty case does not by itself bar visitation; the family court decides on the child's welfare. Check your bail conditions and ask the criminal court to clarify them if they restrict contact with the complainant.
What can I do if my child refuses to meet me?
Ask the court for counselling and a graded return to contact. Courts do not treat a young child's refusal as final and look at the reasons behind it. With teenagers, be patient and reliable; pushing usually backfires.
Can grandparents get visitation rights in India?
There is no separate statutory right, but courts often allow grandparents time as part of a parent's visitation. Where a parent has died or lives abroad, grandparents can apply under the Guardians and Wards Act, and the court decides on the child's welfare.
Can a visitation order be changed later?
Yes. Either parent can apply to vary it when circumstances change, such as the child growing older, a new school or a move to another city. Parents can also agree changes in writing and have them recorded by the court.
Written and reviewed at B.K. Singh & Associates
Advocate B.K. Singh
Founder of B.K. Singh & Associates. MCA, LL.B., LL.M., with more than twenty years of practice before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, district courts and tribunals across Delhi NCR. This article explains the general law as of 24 October 2026; it is not legal advice on your facts.