Child Custody is an issue that affects everybody involved - mom, dad, children, as well as other family members. Nothing is as precious to a parent as their own child. Regardless of any bad situations, or choices you may have made in the past, you still have rights. The only way to protect your rights, so that visitation, custody, or support of a child will be official and enforceable through the court, is to get a court order (signed by a judge) in place.
Types of Custody
Joint custody: parents share physical and legal custody.
Sole physical custody: the child lives with and is under the supervision of one parent. The other parent may often have visitation.
Joint physical custody: each parent has significant periods of physical custody.
Sole legal custody: one parent has the right and the responsibility to make the decisions relating to the health, education and welfare of a child.
Joint legal custody: both parents share the rights and responsibilities to make decisions concerning the health, education and welfare of the child
More on Child Custody
Child Custody and Guardianship are the legal terms used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and child, including e.g. the right of the parent to make decisions for the child and the duty to care for the child. As previously stated - child custody is determined by assuring that what is being proposed/decided is the best interest of the child.
Legal Custody
"Legal Custody" gives a parent the right to make long-term decisions about the raising of a child, and key aspects of the child's welfare -- including the child's education, medical care, dental care, and religious instruction. In many child custody cases, legal custody is awarded to both parents (called "joint legal custody"), unless it is shown that one parent is somehow unfit, or is incapable of making decisions about the child's upbringing. Legal custody is different from "physical custody," which involves issues such as where the child will live.
Joint Custody
In Child Custody situations, "joint custody" usually refers to one of two possible scenarios: joint legal and physical custody, or joint legal custody.
In true "Joint Custody" arrangements, parents share equal "legal custody" and "physical custody" rights. This means that parents participate equally in making decisions about the child's upbringing and welfare, and split time evenly in having day-to-day care and responsibility for the child -- including the parent's right to have the child live with them. true joint custody arrangements are rare, because of their potential to cause both personal difficulties (stress, disruption of child's routine) and practical problems (scheduling, costs of maintaining two permanent living spaces for the child).
Much more common than true joint custody arrangements (where both physical and legal custody are shared) is "joint legal custody"in which both parents share the right to make long-term decisions about the raising of a child and key aspects of the child's welfare, with physical custody awarded to one parent.
Child Visitation
Regardless of any bad situations, or choices you may have made in the past, every parent has rights to visit their children. Child Visitation is the most important legal step to staying in touch with your child’s life. You can remain a non custodial parent, but visit your child on a regular visitation schedule. To make visits with your child enforceable, you need to get a well-defined court order in place.
Visitation schedules are determined, like all other domestic issues involving children, in accordance with the best interests of the child. In most situations, it is important that visits with a child be frequent and continuing. Contact us today and tell us whether you want child custody, or visitation. Getting a well-defined court order will protect you, so that the other party is not in control of the situation. Contact us today to review what others have done in similar situations as you are having. Be sure to review Child Custody section on this site, and then call us to discuss resolution.
******Call Gregory A. Riebesehl At Riebesehl Family Law Offices Today For Your Free Initial Consultation (602) 621-0770 ****** Don't Leave Your Most Precious Thing In All The World, The Relationship With Your Children, In The Hands Of Poorly Trained, Rushed, Ill Equipped Document Prep. Agencies. When Dealing With The Courts (Especially When Filing Your Court Documents) Those Agencies, By Law Cannot Give You Legal Advice, etc. They May Charge Less In The Beginning But They More Than Make Up For It In The Long Run When Things Go Terribly Wrong And You Have To Turn To An Attorney To Do The Job Right.
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