Child Custody Laws

Divorce Doctors can help you with child custody laws and all issues of your divorce.

When a husband and wife divorce, special issues arise in relation to any children they may have. All of the states in the United States have adopted their own child custody laws to address such situations. These laws are often very complex and can differ widely from state to state. A highly-trained Divorce Doctor mediator can explain the laws that apply to you and how best to deal with them. Most Divorce Doctor Mediators are divorce lawyers and all have specialized training and experience with child custody issues.

With Divorce Doctors both husband and wife can have a peaceful divorce without each needing to hire a divorce lawyer.

Contact Divorce Doctors for assistance today.

Child custody laws help to determine where children will live, how decisions about the children will be made and how much time children will spend with each parent.  However, it is important to understand that child custody laws vary from state to state.  This means that what would be decided in the court of one state may not be the decision of the court of another state.

If you need assistance resolving child support issues, contact Divorce Doctors today at toll free at 877-442-4733.             

What happens when the courts decide on child custody issues?

When deciding child custody issues, courts have two basic options. They can award sole custody to one parent or joint/shared custody to both parents. Courts rarely diverge from these options and are seldom open to creative solutions to child custody disputes since these may only be a source of more quarrels in the future. In any case, a court’s decision will reflect what the judge believes to be the most safe and healthy course of action for the children involved.

Knowing something about child custody laws, specifically sole custody and joint or shared custody can help a parent who is going through a child custody dispute to better understand their options and the possibilities. Even the simple term “best interests” can carry hidden meaning in the “legalese” of divorce court.

The Divorce Doctors mediators who will conduct your divorce mediation are highly-trained professionals, many of whom are divorce lawyers, and all of whom understand child custody laws and the issues you need to resolve.

• With most child custody laws, sole custody means that the child or children will live primarily with one parent. That parent also makes all of the decisions concerning the health, education and welfare of the children. The non-custodial parent typically is only entitled to visitation.

• With joint or shared child custody, the parents share not only time with their children, but also decision making authority. However, joint or shared custody does not work in every situation because sometimes parents simply are not capable of the heightened communication that such a custody arrangement requires. This is what makes many courts hesitant to award a joint or shared custody arrangement. If the parties are fighting over custody and cannot decide on a resolution for themselves they are already showing that they cannot communicate.

However not all cases have to end up in court as there are many ways to resolve custody disputes outside of court. It is also possible to handle and resolve a divorce and determine resolutions to issues such as child custody without having to pay a divorce lawyer by using divorce mediation.

With mediation, it is possible to resolve all of the issues concerning child custody without having to go to court.

 The parties, with the aid of a skilled family law mediator can decide between themselves how they will handle the issue of child custody by using the child custody laws of their specific state as a guide. All of this can be done without either party having to hire, or even consult with, a divorce lawyer.

Mediation will not change the child custody laws of your state; however, mediation will allow parties who want to reach an amicable settlement between each other do just that.  Many people, including your divorce lawyer, are generally quick to say that mediation is always in the best interest of the child or children.

The Divorce Doctor mediators who will conduct your divorce mediation are highly-trained legal professionals who understand the issues you will need to resolve. Many of them are, in fact, divorce attorneys themselves. However, they will serve to help you resolve you case and will not represent either party.

For more on the mediation process, see the “What is Divorce Mediation?” section.