Family Law

Guest Post :: Child Custody Information for Fathers

By J. Benjamin Stevens

The following is a Guest Post from Richard Jacobs:

If you are a father concerned about the custody of your child, you would want to know the most painless way forward to obtain custody of your child, both for you as well as for your child. You might also be worried that in the case of divorce, your wife might get custody of your children. However, this might not always be the case as the court decides the right of custody based on several different factors.

In a divorce, the court tries to make decisions keeping in mind what would be in the best interest of the child. Both parents should also consider the interest of their child and keep it at the forefront of their divorce proceedings. The court mainly bases its decision on who is the primary caregiver and who is more capable of raising the child in a better way. The court also asks questions about the child's basic needs and necessities and who takes care of them, such as who helps the child get up in the morning to go to school, who takes the child to the school, doctor or any where else, who plans the childs activities throughout the day and who takes care of the child's daily needs like bathing, clothing etc. Depending on the answers to these questions, the court decides who would eventually get custody of the child or children in the case of divorce.

As a father who is fighting for his child's custody, you must also understand that you could be given legal custody but not physical custody of the child. Some people often confuse these terms and some even think that these two are the same. However, these are two different kinds of custodies and their names may vary from state to state. Physical custody refers to who the child will eventually live with, whereas legal custody refers to the authority of who actually gets the right to make decisions for the child, such as where the child or children will get their education from, where will they get their healthcare from, and religious training etc.

You may even go for joint legal custody in which the court will eventually decide what is in the best interest of the child. In such a case, both parents decide and take decisions for the child together even if they might not be spending equal amounts of time with the child physically. This means, that both parents have equal rights to and equal say on their child's life and they must agree upon any major decision about their child.

As a father, you must understand your custody rights and the best way forward is to hire a lawyer or consult your child custody issues with your divorce attorney. An experienced divorce attorney will discuss your custody rights as a father with you and will also tell you how strong or weak your case is. Your attorney will also tell you of ways on how you can improve your position to win your child's custody or develop a plan so you can spend as much time with your child as possible after the divorce.

Source:  Richard Jacobs is a chief editor since early 2007, and he currently works for MyDUIAttorney. A website that helps you to find the right DUI lawyer, you can search for a Cincinnati DUI Lawyers or for New Jersey DUI Lawyer online, anytime!

Full post as published by SC Family Law Blog on October 19, 2010 (boomark / email).