Custody
For couples with children, there are additional considerations, including:
- Child Custody
- Visitation
- Child Support
Our office provides high-quality, effective, and affordable legal representation to protect our clients, their rights, and interests.
Do questions like this worry you? Child custody and visitation are often the most difficult family law matters. It is important that you have a strong and experienced advocate guiding you through the process to protect your parental rights and those of your child. Below is a list of the most common issues you should be aware of related to child custody & support.
Child custody matters fall into two categories: Legal & Physical Custody.
- Legal custody: Who will make the legal decisions for the child related to medical care, education, and religion? Who will decide if the child can get a driver’s license, passport, or even a tattoo?
- Physical custody: Where will the child live? What will be the visitation rights for the other parent?
Our office can help you secure legal and physical custody of your child so that you can protect their interest and safety. Regardless of who has custody of your child you still may have rights as a parent to visitation.
- Visitation: What will be the schedule for visitation? Do visits need to be supervised? Who will do the transportation? Where will the pick-up and drop-off occur? What about holidays or vacation trips?
Legal and physical custody as well as visitation are achieved by securing custody orders from the court. How are custody orders made?
- Agreement of the Parties: If parents can come to an agreement on how custody orders are made, the agreement should be memorialized and made an order of the court.
- Mediation: Parents can work with a mediator to help them reach an agreement on custody and visitation. The agreement will then be made an order of the court. Parents must attempt mediation before the court will make custody or visitation orders.
- Court orders: A judge will hear evidence and issue a decision related to custody and visitation.
- Child Custody Evaluations: A social worker or psychologist will meet with parents and children and recommend a particular custody decision for the court.
- Minor’s Counsel: The court can appoint an attorney for the children to represent their best interests.
Just as children need the emotional and psychological support of their parents, they also need their financial support. California has enacted legal guidelines for child support to ensure that their financial needs are met. Our office can guide you through the legal process of securing the financial support your child deserves.
Judges are required to order child support according to calculations based on certain relevant data. The court considers the following factors when determining child support:
- Number of children
- Income of both parents
- Percentage of time the children are with each parent
- Hardships for both parents
- School and child care costs, as well as other factors.
To get an idea of the support due to your children, try the State of California child support calculator.
If you have a current child support order in place, we can help with enforcement or modification of those orders.