Custody Rights During a Divorce

1. Custody Rights During aDivorce Most people understand that part of the divorce process is finding common ground between both spouses regarding child custody and visitation rights of both parents. While in the past, courts always favored mothers to have primary custody of their children, this standard has long since passed, and most courts now want to ensure that a child has a strong relationship with both parents. Many parents worry about their custody rights, and there are certain things they can do not only to keep those rights during the divorce process, and ultimately impact the custody and visitationschedule. The Best Interests of theChild Courts will always use a standard that looks to what is truly in the best interest of the child. Therefore, your behavior during the divorce process will not only affect and impact your ability to have visitation with your child during the divorce proceedings, but also what your permanent custody and visitation schedule will look like. A court will always attemptto examine both parents’ emotional and physical health and their ability and willingness to ensure that the basic needs of a child are taken care ofappropriately. Positive Actions You can Take to Help Your CustodyCase If you and your spouse can not agree regarding custody issues, the final determination will ultimately be up to the court. Make sure that your actions during your divorce process reflect positively on you because that will help your custody case and ensure you achieve as much visitation as possible. Some positive actions you can take that will make the court look more favorably on you as a parent include thefollowing:

2. You provide for your child emotionally, physically, andfinancially • You have a healthy lifestyle, and do not engage in any risky or illegalactivities • You do not have any suspicious or dangerous social mediaposts • You have a healthy emotional bond with yourchild • You support the other parent’s right to have time with thechild • You prioritize the child by keeping him or her in the sameschool • You display a complete absence of malice and animosity toward yourex-spouse • Negative Actions That Will Possibly Hurt Your Custody Case • There are some behaviors that may possibly hurt your custody case, which would include the following: • Drug or alcoholabuse • Inappropriate social mediabehavior • Inability or unwillingness to financially or emotionally support achild • Physical or emotional abuse or neglect of a child • Unwillingness to support the other parent’s right to have time with thechild • Failure to prioritize the child over personal, selfishinterests • Obvious hatred and animosity for yourex-spouse • Failure to cooperate regarding scheduling or visitation with the other spouse regarding the child • Any attempt tokidnap or remove the childrenfrom the otherparent. • Contact an Experienced DivorceAttorney • If you are considering a divorce, or are in the process of a divorce, you likely have concerns regarding child custody and visitation. Make sure your legal rights are protected. Contact an experienced divorce attorney at Giro Lawat 201-690-1642 to ensure that you obtain as much visitation and custody with your child as legallypossible.