Making Smart Decisions During Divorce

Getting custody can be more challenging for some spouses than others because of a lack of employment, lack of funding, or a schedule that would prevent them from raising their child. Attempting to obtain child custody is difficult if you do it without the assistance of a lawyer. Here are some of the ways a lawyer can help you with your custody case.

Prove You Deserve To Get Custody

In some divorce cases, some issues could arise, making it difficult for one parent to acquire custody of their child. For example, if one of the parents loses their job, when there are complex issues between spouses, or when there is a problem with the child, the court may prefer one parent over the other. Additionally, medical diagnoses, behavior issues, and genetic disorders could cause the court to prefer one parent over another to provide environmental and emotional support to the child.

A lawyer can make a strong case for a parent who is less favored for child custody. This is something you cannot do on your own if the court is against you. Custody law services will gather evidence and use case law to strengthen your claim for custody even when the other parent seems to be the better fit.

Jurisdiction Issues

If a spouse who dissolves a relationship moves to a different state, it poses problems for the other spouse who is trying to acquire custody of their children. Different states have different laws regarding custody. However, a child custody attorney knows how jurisdictional boundaries affect your case.

According to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), the factor used to determine which state should preside over a child custody case is where the child lives. Jurisdiction is in the state where the child has lived for the last six months before filing a child custody action. Your lawyer will try and use this Jurisdiction Act in your favor.

Visitation Interference

After a divorce, the parents of a child agree on a visitation plan even though one of them has sole custody of the child. This visitation plan requires the non-custodial parent to spend time with their child on certain days. If the other parent breaches this arrangement, this amounts to an offense which could affect the custody arrangements.

Custody law services can use violations of visitation plans to help you get custody of the child. The law frowns on the idea of one parent preventing the other from contacting their child when there is a visitation arrangement in force. The non-custodial parent can ask for a modification of a child custody ruling based on these interferences.

If you want custody of your children, reach out to a child custody attorney for help.