What are the types of custody arrangements in Massachusetts?
When you and your spouse are planning to divorce in Salem, Massachusetts, understanding child custody options can be confusing. Because circumstances surrounding a divorce and custody are unique to your situation, the judge will consider several types of arrangements before determining the one that best suits your child. One of the factors that affects this decision is how well you and your child’s other parent work together. When you are able to come to an agreement before going to court, the outcome may be more beneficial for both of you.
According to Masslegalhelp.org, legal custody involves which parent makes the decisions about your child’s medical care, development, education and other factors. Sole legal custody awards these rights and responsibilities to only one of you, while both of you are involved in these decisions when you have shared legal custody. If you and your child’s other parent are able to cooperate, you are more likely to share legal custody.
…show more content…
Your child resides with the parent who has sole physical custody, while the other parent typically has reasonable visitation. Although sole physical custody may be determined to be in the best interests of your child, it is unlikely that either you or your child’s other parent will have visitation rights completely revoked by the court.
Your child spends time living with both you and the other parent under shared physical custody. This does not necessarily mean that the time is divided equally, but the arrangement is designed to allow both of you to maintain a healthy relationship with the child. This information about custody arrangements in Massachusetts is general in nature and should not be interpreted as legal advice. However, it may help you understand what types of arrangements the judge may
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
Alternatively, you may have already been through a divorce but were awarded joint custody or your ex was given full custody, but now you would like full custody. Our services may be able to help you. Using many of the same techniques that are used in the above two examples, an investigator can record any evidence of bad parenting, and this may be what your attorney needs get you awarded full custody of your
To the majority of people, joint custody sounds like the best choice for the child but there is a bad side to it. Disagreeing with joint custody does not always mean the child should only be with their mothers; there are many fathers that are loving and wonderful parents. However there are many cases of fathers causing problems and hurting their children by fighting for custody for the wrong reasons. A study has been done that shows the reasons for a group of fathers to get involved in a custody battle. The main reasons were to punish their wives, they economically and psychologically refused to subside their ex-wives, and they had a patriarchal concept of the male as the “Superior” parent (Chesler). Even though fathers fought for custody
When one or both of the parents decides they would like parenting time or custody to be modified, it must be shown that the change is in the best interests of the child. Your Arizona family law attorney will file your request to modify parenting time in Arizona with the Clerk of the Superior Court, but to file such a request, you must first consider some limitations.
When parents cannot reach an agreement on their own, people may need to petition the court to relocate. According to the Florida Supreme Court, this is the case if they are planning to move more than 50 miles from where they resided at the time of the last custody order. Moving with a child does not require permission in cases when people are relocating for less than 60 days or for purposes, including vacation, education or health care for the child. Should either parent formally object to the relocation, then a hearing will be held in order to determine if the move is in the child’s best interests.
Once a court order is in place, whether it relates to custody, visitation, or support, both parents have to follow it. If one parent doesn’t follow the order, the other parent can file a contempt action and ask the court to enforce the existing order. This is the case even if the parent thinks that he or she has a good reason for not complying with the order. For instance, if you don’t think it would be in the best interest of your child to visit with his or her other parent, so you don’t follow the court-ordered visitation plan, you could be held in contempt of court. If you don’t think the existing visitation order is good for your child, then you need to file an action with the court to modify the order. Not following the order can lead to serious consequences,
The reason I chose the case that I did is multi-fold. One, I have been dealing with the State of Michigan courts as recently as today concerning family law since my divorce in 2002. Michigan is a state that gives very little deference to a child’s wish of who they want to live with (regardless of age or maturity) regardless of how equal the living arrangements are (e.g. healthy environment, good schools etc.). In fact it was only relatively recently that Michigan finally changed its laws and assumed a 50/50 split in custody so long as it is in the best interest of the child.
When asked about which method is best between mediation and litigation? Lawyers agreed that mediation is better than assessment, but depending on the cases. They also suggested that neither of those two methods should be mandatory and that the role of psychologists is to “assist the parents in reaching an agreement that is best interests of the child or children” (Lee et al., 1998, p.118). This brings us to the conclusion, that lawyers do not have any problems with custody evaluators as long as they have some legal knowledge. In fact, they did not find major flaws in the methods used, but only suggested that those methods should not be mandatory. Lawyers recognize the importance of the role of custody evaluators, yet still believe that they are “in best position to protect their clients’ interests and rights” (Lee et al., 1998,
Divorce is a sticky situation and comes with great amounts of pain and trials. But when children are involved, the situation becomes a whole lot stickier. In these circumstances, child custody policies were created in order to negotiate the child’s legal status for the care, authority and livelihood of the children to either parent awarded by a court (Child Custody and Parent Time, 2015). Distribution of tangible items in the home, money, and most importantly children are determined and assessed by professionals in Utah State Courts. There are different types of custody that courts can grant to both the mother in father that can be addressed in different situations. Sole custody is when one parent is awarded full custody of their child,
"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.
Although co-parenting from different states is difficult, it is not impossible. In fact, many children adjust remarkably well to such a change. With a comprehensive custody and visitation plan in place, the parents will have the tools they need to communicate effectively and handle unanticipated events that may come
A custody order refers to individual who has the legal right and responsibility in caring for the child, this would include decisions pertaining to education, health and religion. If one parent has custody of the child, an access order can be obtained to allow the non-custodial parent, grandparent, or other relatives to arrange for visitation or contact between a child in care and the family. If there are safety concerns, a non-custodial parent may not be allowed to have contact with the child or the access may be permitted in a supervised environment.
Courts may look at factors like instances of domestic violence and other crimes. The age and overall health of each parent may also be considered, as can factors like financial status and employment. Your family law attorney will be able to provide greater insight into the pertinent factors in your custody case.
Custody questions are to be settled in a manner that balances the interests of both the parents and the wellbeing of the child.