Services Offered by a Child Custody Lawyer

Whenever someone thinks of the word "divorce," it brings to mind several different emotions. Hurt and betrayal are just a couple of them. Drawing a divorce agreement can be an extremely messy and devastating time for a couple. However, if they have children, this task can be even more difficult. This is where a child custody lawyer comes into play. The services they offer can help both parties in their battle to determine and solve the many issues that will arise during the divorce proceedings.

The first is fighting for child custody. There are several different ways this can turn out. The most common is joint or shared custody. Whenever parents have shared or joint legal custody, they each retain their parental rights as the minor(s) legal guardians. This still allows both parents to make major decisions for those in question. These decisions would mostly be those that pertain to medical care and anything else that requires consent from both legal guardians. An attorney can also fight on behalf of a parent for sole legal custody of the minor. This means that only one parent has the legal right to make major decisions concerning the minor's medical wellbeing, religion, or education.


These attorneys also fight for child support. A child custody lawyer can debate in the initial proceedings, presenting to the judge figures such as taxable income or other means of support one of the parents receives. This helps the judge determine a fair amount of child support that one of the parents is obligated to pay to the other. However, these attorneys can also bring the ex-spouse/parent back to court if they are not paying enough money or paying it on time. This sets the legal wheel in motion on collecting back pay. They can also bring him or her back if their income increases. This allows the parent that keeps the kids for most of the time to receive a fair amount from the other parent.

The last piece of the custody puzzle is visitation rights. Whenever parents maintain joint custody of their children, there has to be an arrangement that allows each parent to see the children. There are several different types of visitation. The most common one is unsupervised visitation. Unsupervised visitation means that each parent is scheduled certain times they are allowed to see the child. During this time, they are free to take them to their homes or to go on outings. Supervised visitations are visitations where at least one of the parents is required to have another adult present for the visit with the children. Often a time, this adult is a social worker who will make sure nothing out of the ordinary or inappropriate happens during the visit.

Going through a divorce is a mess. Each spouse seems to place blame on the other, and neither of them wants the other to abuse their parental rights. A child custody lawyer will fight for parental rights and is the best way to ensure each receives the time with the children s/he deserves.

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