Child Custody Issues In Family Law

About 10% of divorcing families have disagreements about custody that are significant enough to lead to court involvement about custody or visitation because according to Lebow and Black (2012) these parents also typically exhibit skills deficits in several areas. At the individual level, these parents often have difficulty understanding another person’s perspective and tend to focus on their own needs rather than on the needs of others. There is a possibility that these parents almost always have extreme difficulties with communication which ultimately leads to the court being involved.

     According to many the custody of a child should be determined with the best interest of the child in mind. However, it is not easy for a

Joint Legal Custody is the most common and is described as that both parents have the rights to make major decisions for the child. This is includes education, religion, and health care. This is also called Co-parenting. The set back to this arrangement is that both parents will not be able to agree on certain decisions that need to be

The Family Court ensures that each case and judgement concerning marriage/relationship breakdowns involving children is treated equally with emphasis on the child and its best interests. At times mutual agreement on the shared parental responsibility (the underlying principle of the law

With fault based divorce in the 1960s, child custody depended primarily on the child’s age. If the child was under seven years old, also known as the ‘tender years,’ the mother would receive physical custody. This was because of the belief at the time that women are good caregivers and it was their job to take care of the children at home. However, if the children were older, custody would be granted to the parent of the same sex. Sometimes judges would also award custody of children dependent on martial or sexual conduct of the spouses. When custody was awarded in this way, the presiding judge could be more focused on the rights of the parents than what is best for the child in that situation. Either way, it was quite noticeable that child custody was based on the judge and their opinion, which could change from case to case.

In 1997 the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) created the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) to replace the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA), which was created in 1968. Like the UCCJA, the new and improved UCCJEA served the purpose of “deter[ing] the removal or kidnapping of children, eliminat[ing] interstate jurisdictional competition, and prevent[ing] states from relitigating custody decisions from other states.” (Ehrlich, p. 411) Since its creation, the UCCJEA has been a major go-to reference for Courts in all states except Massachusetts and Vermont, who have not yet adopted said act, when considering the technicalities of jurisdiction for child custody cases.

Child custody disputes can be the most difficult, contentious element of any divorce, especially when the other party is using the child as leverage or a weapon. You may be convinced your former partner is an unfit parent, but without evidence, your allegations may not carry much weight in family court.

Today, the subject about children custody is commonly discussed about. Children are often left to the hands of those who are thought to be “better.” A child’s environment and the care he/she receives is a major point in deciding where the custody of the child land. Many parents lose their children due to their “inability” to raise their child. A good amount of kids are torn away from their parent’s love and affection due to the parent’s financial status or other devastating reasons.

In contrast, the case In Re Southard, 365 P.3d 1089 (2015), the court found that the nonparent should have custody of the child due to a child-parent relationship. In this case, the mother had married two men Southard and Larkins twice. Southard, 365 P.3d at 1092. The result of these multiple unions was three children. Southard, 365 P.3d at 1092. At the end the mother’s fourth marriage with Southard, he received custody of all three children including AR who was not Southard’s biological child, but Larkins. Id. The mother petitioned for custody, but custody was denied. Id. The court found that Southard had physical custody of AR for a year and had developed a child-parent relationship. Id. The court also decided that the time Southard spent with AR were not caused by custodial inference, but by the marriage of the mother and Southard. Id. at 105.

I decided to go through the courts to determine custody because of several reasons. The first reason was because my son’s father was on the birth certificate and, the police stated that if he took my son from me, it would be considered kidnapping. So, it was in essence to protect my son first. Secondly, it was part of the process of getting child support as well as my restraining order. The restraining order was done through the civil courts and, the originally gave me full custody temporarily until the actual custody process could begin. While, I was planning on going through the custody court at some time, I had to begin the process early because of several court standards. Before I was able to put my son on CCAP, I had to put his father on child support or else I would be noncompliant with their orders. Also, with the severity of the reasons for the restraining order, the judge believed that it was necessary for me to begin it immediately. But, going through the process, I understand why many young mothers like me do not go through the courts to deal with this manner.

Let's look at some examples of employment and how they may factor into your custody battle.

From my research when dealing with child custody there are four different types of issues and those four have incommon is that it’s a custody battle over a child or children. The first type is legal custody where the parent has the right to make decisions about the child's upbringing, The second type is physical custody where the parent has the right to

Legal custody grants you the ability to make decisions about how your children are raised. It gives you the ability to have make decisions, either on your own or together with your children’s other parent, about where your children will attend school and what type of religious upbringing they will have.

"shared parenting" is a controversial topic in family law. It generally refers to the presumption that children of divorced or separated parents should spend an equal (or almost equal) amount of time with each parent. The concept has largely been promoted by fathers' organisations that contend that a child's life is enhanced if both parents continue to be significantly involved in the child's life following separation or divorce.

California Family Code also allows the mediator’s recommendation to the court regarding custody and/or visitation to be adopted by the court. (California