Child Custody
Child custody refers to the legal guardianship of a child, taking
care of or making decisions about a child. There are two kinds of
custody:
Legal custody refers to a legal right to make important
decisions about the child's health care, education, etc but you do not
actually live with the child.
Physical or residential custody refers to the legal right to have the child physically under your care most of the time.
Child
custody refers to the legal guardianship of a child, taking care of or
making decisions about a child. There are two kinds of custody:
-
Legal custody refers to a legal right to make important decisions about
the child's health care, education, etc but you do not actually live
with the child.
- Physical or residential custody refers to the legal right to have the child physically under your care most of the time.
When
two couples are married and living in the same house keeping the
coupled relationship, then the child custody regulation will belong to
both parents automatically. They will share physical and legal custody
responsibility together, unless there is a situation where they have to
separate and end their marriage life. Until that time, they will take
care of the child and participate in making a decision about the child.
How do courts
decide custody?
Surrounding
the child and legal guardianship, there are always issues like
residence and parent responsibility which sometimes lead into divorce
proceedings, annulment and disputes in the physical assets and
education fees, etc. In most local state's jurisdictions, the
court decides custody based on the
best interest of child when the parents are not in a position to come to an agreement on
their child's custody issue.
It
takes many factors when decide the best interest of the child who is
involved, such as age and health of the child, sex and the primary
caretakers before the divorce happened, parenting environments and the
mental and emotional relationship between parent and the child.
There are few factors that are considered when determining
the best interest of the child:
- Health and sex of the child
- Who
was the primary caregiver prior to the divorce
- Parenting skills and
willingness to take care of the child
- The emotional ties between parent and
the child
- Willingness to facilitate visitation by the other parent
-
Parent's moral fitness.
Even
though it sounds like a matter of family issue, child custody still
involves the actual child's circumstance, so both parents tend to be
careful about the impact afterwords. Therefore in some states, courts
use the term parenting schedule rather than custody or visitation
because it will eliminate the distinction between custodial and
non-custodial parents and thus the needs of children's development
schedule. Younger children will need shorter but more frequent time
with parents. Older ones need longer block of time with each parent
instead.
Who will take over the legal guardianship between fater and mother? To the contrary of many people's assumption, mothers will
not automatically receive custody. In almost all states, both mothers and
fathers have an equal right to the custody. It is not automatically assumed by
courts that a child will be better off with one of parents.
Due to its sensitivity, Judges are
supposed to be fair and unbiased in their decisions on dealing with child
custody case. If any, bias on the part of individual judges can be avoided if
the parents can decide between themselves what the custody or parenting
arrangements should be.
When it comes to the final decision of the custody, both sides of the parents will have an equal burden of
proving in every efforts that his or her custody would be the best interest of the child. Some
states have laws that give mother the preference of child custody, but even in
those states many fathers have been successful in obtaining custody in the past.
There are cases where the court make a formal decision of Legal Guardianship
in which a judge orders to suspend parents' custody of their child and gives
custody right to a non-parent.
If you plan to prepare your own child
custody form, ensure that you have right legal forms signed by you and seek an
advice from the lawyer for any unclear issue. You can find these legal documents
at your local stationery or go online and search for Free Legal Forms and there are many
choices out there with download options. Besides child custody forms, there are
other legal forms related to divorce and dissolution of marriage such as
Ratification of Marriage, Authorization to School and Power of Attorney by
Husband and Wife. Such Free Divorce Forms
are very helpful to you, as it is always recommended to be prepared in advance
when you feel that you would be in a situation of needing legal documents in the
future.