A Child Custody Lawyer Helps Craft Custody Agreements
A child custody lawyer assists parents in matters such as divorce, paternity and custody modifications where child custody is at issue. Typically, parents share joint legal and joint physical custody of their children, however, there are instances where one parent may have sole legal and/or sole physical custody. Legal custody deals with the responsibility for making decisions about the health, education and welfare of your children, such as where they go to school, matters involving healthcare and religious instruction.
Physical custody deals with each parent’s responsibility for physically caring for your children, including a parenting time schedule, and which parent’s address will be designated as the children’s address for educational and mailing purposes. A child custody lawyer helps the parents work out a parenting plan to handle legal custody, physical custody, parenting time or visitation, child support and decisions for day-to-day living. Once a parenting plan is approved and issued as an order by the court, it can only be modified upon a showing of changed circumstances or by agreement of the parties.
Joint legal custody requires parents to share in the important decisions regarding their children’s health, education and welfare. The children benefit most when parents work together. Children who see their parents interact positively, as joint legal custody requires, feel loved and care for, and are more likely to have healthy self-esteem when parents are able to collaborate.
Joint physical custody means that each parent has significant parenting time with their children, but it does not necessarily require that the parents share equal time with the children. A child custody lawyer can assist you in creating a parenting schedule that will work best for your children and your family as a whole. In high conflict cases or cases involving domestic violence, sometimes it is better to have most exchanges occur at the children’s school or daycare to limit contact between the parents, and therefore limit conflict in front of the children. In more serious cases, there are other alternatives available even when exchanges will not occur at school or daycare to ensure everyone’s safety.
Child custody cases are often high conflict due to disagreements regarding missed parenting time, child support, relocations, etc. Such disagreements can quickly escalate causing added stress and anxiety for everyone involved, especially the children. When something like this happens, a child custody lawyer can help you take the necessary steps to put you and your children in the best position to move forward.
The child custody lawyer can assist you with a divorce, paternity action or modification of an existing parenting plan. The attorney will analyze the case and go over all the facts, explain your rights and options, prepare your claim and provide representation in court.
The Levy Craig family law team makes client satisfaction, good communication and strong, effective advocacy a top priority. To schedule a consultation with a child custody lawyer, please call 816-454-7474.
Kim Scheuerman or Nathalie Elliott are happy to help you.
