Today’s Articles December 20, 2011
- Ways in which the Court system decides Child Custody
A child custody proceeding is any case involving child protection, adoption, guardianship, termination of parental rights or voluntary placement of your child. The support order will be based on the child’s needs, obligor’s capacity to pay, custody arrangements and the child support guidelines.
The Criminal Code makes it an offence to kidnap a child to spite a custody order. A custody order establishes both the custody and parenting time arrangement for the children. Your child custody order is also confidential.
When an unwed mother has a child, the mother has legal custody of that child until a court says otherwise.During divorce, marriage, or annulment proceedings, the issue of child custody often becomes a matter for the court to decide. The Court must contemplate the following factors in every child custody decision under the law regarding the best interest of the child. The court retains the power to alter the custody arrangements until the child turns 18 or is emancipated.
You may contest custody, child support, and alimony and property division by appearing in court and filing appropriate legal papers. At the hearing, the court shall hear evidence to affect whether the child custody and support determination should be changed. The fact that one parent has been the child’s primary guardian is often considered but is not sufficient to guarantee a custody award.
It is not that unusual for middle income parents to spend $60,000 on a divorce and child custody battle. Traditionally, divorce in the United States results in one parent being awarded primary custody and decision making for a child.
Each parent shares the rights and responsibility for the care, custody, companionship, and support of their children. Some states, such as Arizona, have fathers rights groups especially dedicated to helping fathers obtain custody of their children (arizonafathersrights.com for example).
Custody means that a mom or dad has court custodial rights and responsibilities toward the child. Joint child custody means that both parents have the legal custodial rights and responsibilities toward a child. Joint custody grants both parents to have a say in the child’s upbringing.
There is no evidence to help that a presumption of joint custody is in the primary interests of children.
A study found that only when parents were still actively fighting did joint custody exacerbate children’s feelings of being torn between parents. However, when both parents favor joint custody, it can be a good solution for the children. Some parents have chosen a joint-custody arrangement in which the child spends an approximately equal amount of time with both parents. Some states award joint custody in which the judge simply divides the child’s time between the parents.
Joint custody does not mean simply alternating where the child lives from time to time. In fact, there may be lawful joint custody, but the child may live with only one parent. Legal child custody includes the right to make decisions about the child’s education, religion, health care, and other important concerns. A child may be placed in foster care while a custody case is pending. Legal custody means the right to determine the child’s upbringing, including education, health care, and religious training.
Physical custody and residence means the routine daily care and control and where the child lives. Physical child custody is awarded to one parent with whom the child will live most of the time. In most cases, both parents continue to share lawful child custody but one parent gains physical child custody. There is also a presumption that it is in the child’s best interest to be in the custody of a parent over a non-parent.
Visitation rights allow the non-custodial parent (the person without child custody) time to spend with their child. A common arrangement is that one parent gets custody of the child and the other parent is given visitation rights.
A child custody evaluation is a report written by a neutral professional about you, the other parent, and your children. It is usually not necessary that formal psychological tests be administered to each parent in the context of a child-custody evaluation. The primary purpose and focus of the custody and/or visitation evaluation is to determine what is in the best interests of the child.
Comprehensive child custody evaluations generally require an evaluation of all parents/guardians and children, as well as observations of interactions between them. The children are also evaluated in a custody/visitation evaluation.
Because of the complexity of child custody matters and the importance of the outcome, it may be advisable to contact an attorney. The attorney should know several child custody evaluators or guardian ad items that they have worked with successfully. If you proceed with a child custody action without an attorney, you are acting as your own attorney.
In a child custody battle, there are rarely winners, frequently everyone is a loser, and the biggest losers are often the children.
For more information on Child Custody Law, visit us at http://www.custodyrights.org/child-custody-issues—7-tips.php
- Custody Decisions and the difficulties for grandparents
Unfortunately the pain caused by the failure of a marriage is never restricted to the two parents.
We all understand nowadays that while a couple may be suffering enormously, their kids are probably distressed most of all, and the more the parents suffer, the greater is the pressure on their little ones.
Often passed over in this cycle of injure though are the grandparents. They too have their connection with their grandchildren threatened by the the breakdown of a marriage, and in their case it can be both a practical impediment and a legal strain to maintain the bond!
The end of the relationship between mom and dad should not need to mean the demise of the grandparent’s bond with their grandchildren. In fact, with the rare exception of cases where the grandparent relationship is being manipulated by one of the parents for their own advantage, it is always going to be in the greatest interest of the kids for them to be able to continue their other significant marriages, like that unique relationship with nan and pop.
as elsewhere in the US, it is not normally a legal alternative for a biological or adoptive grandparent to file for custody of their grandchild, as family courts upholds that the best interest of the children are normally served by maximizing contact with their parents, providing that they have shown themselves able to serve the child’s best interests.
There are indeed exceptions to this rule, and in cases where there is evidence to suggest that the children is at risk of parental abuse, the grandparents can take the initiative and file a suit, suing for custody! This is not the norm of course, even in drastic situations, as regularly it is the court itself that takes the initiative in bringing in the grandparents.
Indeed, if dad and mum fail to show themselves trustworthy enough to manage custody of the kids, the grandparents are generally the most likely persons approached by the court for custody. Otherwise, the judge has to look to other more distant relatives as potential legal custodians, especially where the parents of a child are deceased or in jail.
These are of course the extreme options – where grandparents are either taking custody of their grandchildren or are debarred of their lives altogether! In the majority of cases, the grandparents rather have to go through similar difficulties to those of the non-custodial parent – battling to organise access times that fit in with the new family schedule, while simultaneously giving preference to their grandchildren’s estranged parents!
The family law court judge can of course order that a grandparent be given reasonable possession or access to a grandchild, but they will generally leave these arrangements to be worked out privately with the parents.
At the end of the day a grandparent is in a one-of-a-kind position to assist the grandchild through a arduous time and dad and mom need to appreciate this.Indeed, grandpa and grandma should work hard during a time of family break up to make themselves obtainable to their children and children’s children, while of course remaining careful to steer clear of taking sides and letting their aggravation overflow on to any of the little ones!
With any luck the time the kids spend with grandma and grandpa will be time to rest and recover from the struggles of their lives.
For more information on Child Custody Rulings – what happens to Nanna and Pop
http://[www.texaschild-custody.com]