Child Custody: An Overview
Child custody is one of the most important decisions you’ll need to make in your separation agreement. Here is an overview of how child custody works and some of the main definitions you’ll want to know. By Diana Shepherd, CDFA The first thing you need to know about child custody is that it has two components: legal and physical. Although the terms may vary between jurisdictions, generally speaking, sole legal custody means that one parent has the legal authority make all major decisions involving his/her children – including where they will go to school, which elective surgerie...
Child Custody and Visitation after Divorce
Custody of your children is a critical issue in divorce. Regular visitation is an important way to help your children adjust after divorce and keep strong, healthy relationships with both parents. By Carolyn Ellis When child custody and visitation is handled well, one of the major sources of long-term emotional fallout of divorce on children can be avoided. Too often warring parents create custody battles or use visitation as a weapon against a former spouse. The ones who suffer from those kind of adversarial tactics are the children. Here are some essential custody and visitation doâ...
How Child Custody Affects Child Support
Child support guidelines specify the amount of child support to be paid to the custodial parent by the non-custodial parent. However, the amount of child support paid can vary depending on the amount of time you have your children. By Diana Shepherd, CDFA The Child Support Guideline amounts are intended for children who reside primarily with one parent. However, the amount of time the children reside with each parent could affect the amount of child support payable. In many jurisdictions, if one parent has the children less than 40% of the time (and the other more than 60% of the time), ...