A divorce custody lawyer can help you understand the divorce custody decisions that the court may be making. The court is going to make child custody decisions, with two exclusive determinations: the legal custody of the child, which is a decision of which parent may make decisions that regards the child’s health, education, religion and welfare, and physical custody which is who the child will stay with.
The trial judge has the authority to determine that custody, regardless of whether joint custody existed once before in this relationship, or to award one parent custody or to a third person–it heavily depends on what the court decides is in the best interests of the child.
A lot of the decisions a court can make for a child were decided in Taylor v Taylor , 306 Md. 290, 301, 508 A.2d 964 (1986). This trial clarified the definition of legal custody and the rights that the legal custodian has over a child, such as the responsibility to make decisions that are long-range in term, such as education, religion, discipline, medical care and other extreme significances in the child’s life or their welfare.
In Taylor, the court went on to state that “legal joint custody means that both parents will have an equal voice in decision making and neither parent’s rights are superior to the other parent.” By determining the meaning of legal joint custody, the court then found that joint custody is not going to be appropriate for every single case, and has actually been suggested it is in appropriate in a small number of cases.
If you find yourself in child custody court, and you need help understanding the differences between the types of custodies, reach out to a divorce custody lawyer. Your divorce custody lawyer should be able to answer any questions you have, prior to going to court with you.
In fact, if you have questions about electronic visitation, which many parents find themselves curious about, as it is a relatively new way of legally communicating with your child while they’re in the care of someone else due to technology advancements over the years.
Visitation rights are when one parent has custody of a child this means that the child lives with that parent and that parent takes care of the child’s everyday needs, on the other side of the spectrum the other parent who does not have custody year may have limited custody still has visitation with the child. The court will decide how and when the other parent can spend time with the child. The extent of visitation is based on the best interest of the child.
Visitation may involve setting specific dates for visits or it might allow for more flexibility. For example, a parent might have his child every other Sunday, or they may have a more flexible schedule that might take into account work schedules, holiday, school vacation, summer break and more. But more often these days visitation incorporates an electronic communication system.
This makes sense due to the fact that electronics are in every part of our modern-day lives. But what are the rules on electronic communication and visitation? The court can consider whether they want to allow electronic communications between a parent and the child is a former visitation. For example, electronic communications might include phone calls, text, email or video chats. However, a judge must decide whether electronic communication is in the child’s best interest as well as deciding whether the appearance of access to appropriate electronic equipment. As the judge decides the lifetime interest in the guidelines on the parent child.
The court may set hours during which, require parents to share password access and so, require parents the cost of the communication devices, such as splitting the phone bill, the court also ordered supervision of electronic communications just as it does for in-person visit.