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Many contentious issues arise when a married couple decides to get divorced: questions of Alimony, Equitable Distribution, and Child Support, to name just a few.
Perhaps the matter with the most potential for disagreements and acrimony, however, is that of Child Custody. After all, in marriage child custody is not really an issue in the day-to-day; at the end of the day, you’re usually all under the same roof at the family home (now known as ‘the marital residence). With divorce comes a real set of difficult questions: who has physical custody of the kids? Is it joint physical custody? If not, what are the perimeters of Parenting Time? What about legal custody? Our custody attorneys are ready to prepare you for these issues.
Physical custody is the actual determination of who has the kids with them and thus responsibility for the kids. There are two types of physical custody:
With this arrangement, the child(ren) spend a substantial amount of time with both co-parents. That does not necessarily mean equal time, but it does mean all parties are endeavoring to make it as equal as possible. It might mean that the kids have bedrooms at both co-parents’ places of residence and spend time at both places during the week. Obviously, the apparent benefit to this arrangement is that the kids get to spend more-or-less equal time with both parents.
In this arrangement, the kid(s) lives with one co-parent, and the other co-parent has agreed-upon Parenting Time (which could be the weekends, or the summer, or school vacations, or some combination of such). One potential benefit of this arrangement is the kids are not shuffling back-and-forth between residences during the school week and are firmly rooted in one location.
Which custody arrangement would be the least disruptive to the kids’ lives? Are they doing well in school, and engaged with the community, be it through sports, the arts, and/or other extracurricular activities? Like most everything in family law, the standard is in the best interest of the child.
How would a certain custody arrangement impact the bonds of siblings? What about cousins, or grandparents? The court is predisposed to create stable environments for children that allow them to grow and thrive.
Has one co-parent traditionally been the one to handle the school drop-off, the nighttime homework and such? Is there a concern that the other co-parent works long hours, maybe even on weekends, because they have traditionally been the breadwinner? These factors may be considered by the court.
Does either co-parent have a history of child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, neglect or abandonment? Obviously, these are serious issues that will be considered.
While this is never the court’s deciding factor, depending upon the child— their maturity level, their age, their relationship with the co-parents— their preference may indeed be a factor.
In New Jersey, the court, to the extent that it deems it best, prefers to award joint custody. However, there’s no bright-line rule for this. All the mitigating factors outlined above will be taken into consideration.
If you’re looking to Move Forward in your Child Custody Divorce in Hackensack, we can help. Reach out to a family law lawyer at O’Cathain Law Group Family Law Department today.