Child custody disputes are
among the most difficult legal cases that judges and
lawyers face. Although parents in a custody battle
may be convinced that the other parent is unfit to raise
their children, most custody cases are not so clear
cut. Judges usually have to choose between two
parents who are each capable of adequately raising
children. To make these difficult decisions, judges
often obtain information from sources such as family
relations officers, court appointed attorneys for the
children, counselors, psychologists and psychiatrists.
At Serrano & Serrano, LLC,
we understand the anxiety and fear faced by clients in
child custody fights. Sometimes the other parent
truly is not fit to raise children and our role as lawyers
is to help our clients make that fact apparent to the
court.
Most custody cases are much
more complex. We know that a parent can hurt his or
her chances of obtaining custody by unreasonably attacking
the fitness of the other parent. Such an approach
can backfire because judges generally believe that a child
needs the attention and care of both parents. A
parent who insists on attacking the other parent may make
a judge feel that he or she does not deserve custody
because he or she will not support the other parent's role
in raising the children. We have seen many parents
make this mistake, sometimes even with the advice of their
lawyers.
At Serrano & Serrano, we
recognize that the better, more effective approach is to
help our client convince the court that he or she is the
parent who will best raise the children. This
approach requires skill, resourcefulness and creativity,
and this is what we offer to parents who are facing child
custody disputes.
A
divorced or unmarried parent can have either sole custody
or joint custody. A parent with sole custody has the
final say about how children should be raised, including
decisions regarding education, religious instruction and
medical care. Parents with joint custody share the
responsibility for making those decisions, even though the
children live with one parent and only visit with the
other parent.
Whenever a court deals with
any issue involving children, including custody,
visitation, principal place of residence, and education,
the main priority for the court is the best interests of
the children.
If parents who are divorcing
agree to joint child custody, Connecticut law states that
there shall be a presumption that it is in the best
interests of the children for there to be joint
custody. A judge who denies joint child custody to
parents who both ask for joint custody has to explain the
reasons for denying joint custody.
If neither parent asks for
joint child custody, that is, if both parents ask for sole
custody, then the court cannot order joint custody.
The court must award sole custody to one of the parents.
Although unusual, divorced
parents sometimes share joint physical custody of
children. This means that the children spend
approximately equal time living with each parent.
Much more common is for the children to live with one
parent (the custodial parent) and to visit with the
other parent (the non-custodial parent).
A non-custodial parent does
not lose any rights under the law other than the right to
have the children reside with him or her.
Inheritance rights are the same between children and
non-custodial parents as they are between children and
custodial parents.
Losing custody of children is
not the same as having one's parental rights
terminated. If a custodial parent should die or
become incapable of caring for the children, then the law
presumes that the non-custodial parent will take over
custody of the children and raise them, even if the
children have a step-parent. Of course, if the
non-custodial parent is unfit to raise children, then the
court will award custody to someone else, either a
relative, step-parent or foster parent.
When parents can work out
visitation between themselves, the visitation order
usually will simply call for "reasonable and
liberal" visitation. If parents have difficulty
agreeing on visitation, then specific visitation orders
will be entered which set forth the dates and times for
visitation, how transportation should be arranged, and how
holidays should be handled.
The courts generally like
there to be as much visitation as possible between
children and the non-custodial parent. However, when
it appears that visitation will cause problems for the
children, the court can deny visitation or order that
visitation be supervised.
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Need a Divorce Lawyer,
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