1. Family law. A noncustodial parent’s or grandparent’s court-ordered privilege of spending time with a child or grandchild who is living with another person, usu. the custodial parent. • The noncustodial parent with visitation rights may sometimes be a parent from whose custody the child has been removed because of abuse or neglect. [Cases: Child Custody 175–231, 282.]
2. Int’l law. A belligerent nation’s right to search a neutral vessel to find out whether it is carrying contraband or is otherwise engaged in nonneutral service. • If the searched vessel is doing either of these things, the searchers may seize the contraband and carry out an appropriate punishment. — Also termed (in both senses) right of visitation.
