How Is Child Custody Determined in a Divorce?
Divorce
If you’re going through a divorce, one of your biggest concerns may be over who will get full or partial custody of your children.
Many factors exist that often determine how suitable a parent is to take care of their children, and these factors can play major roles in the outcomes of child custody cases.
Here are some of the biggest factors that judges use to determine child custody arrangements following a divorce.
Financial Status
The financial status of each parent can affect who gets custody of the children.
Judges often award greater custodial rights to parents who can prove that they are financially stable and have enough regular income to support themselves and any children who are in their care.
If you can show proof of all your financial details to the judge and try to find ways to possibly increase your income, you may convince the judge more easily to award you the full or partial child custody rights that you are seeking.
The Ability to Care for Each Child
A parent should be able to give each child the care that’s needed to try to ensure the healthiest and safest life possible.
If long work hours or other responsibilities stand in the way of giving each child adequate care, the judge may give the other parent full custody.
In addition to financial difficulties, you or the other parent might currently be dealing with legal troubles or mental health challenges that could negatively affect parental rights.
If you believe that you can provide more suitable care for your children, a divorce attorney can try to help you prove your claim.
A Child’s Relationship With Each Parent
If a child has a closer relationship with a particular parent, the judge will be more likely to award that parent with more custodial rights.
You may get a more favorable ruling if you can prove that you were in your children’s lives more than the other parent and bore more of the parental responsibilities as you’ve raised your kids.
The judge, an attorney, or a social worker might also speak with the children and ask them about their relationships with each parent and who they’d rather live with, and the information that’s collected from the interviews can also help determine who gets custody of the children.
Where Each Parent Lives
How close you and the other parent live to one another can determine if a full or joint custody agreement will be best for the children.
A joint custody arrangement will be more likely if you and the other parent live within driving distance of one another.
If a full custody arrangement is more suitable because of the long distance between each residence, the judge may look at the local school ratings, crime statistics, and other neighborhood information of each location to determine a final ruling.
Child custody often involves a lot of complex details, and making the final arrangements isn’t always as straightforward as it seems.
With the right information and legal support, you’ll stand a better chance of getting the child custody ruling that you want.
Category: Family Finances
