South Jersey Child Custody Lawyer

Resolving child custody issues is often one of the hardest and most emotional parts of any divorce case.  However, divorce is not the only time child custody needs to be determined.

Whether you are married or not, any time you live apart from the co-parent, a custody agreement or order should be in place.  This allows both parents to enforce their rights if anything goes wrong, and it creates firm rules and boundaries so the parents can continue separate lives.

If you need help with getting, keeping, or challenging child custody, call the child custody lawyer at Carl Taylor Law Firm LLC today for a flat-rate case consultation at (609) 359-3345.

When Do I Need to Go to Court for Child Custody?

Any time that two parents live separately, custody agreements or orders should be in place.  It ultimately does not matter if the parents are together, separated, married, or divorced; child custody needs to be determined.

This is vital because your ability to enforce your rights is limited without an agreement or order in place.  If you have a good relationship with your co-parent, that might not be a problem -- for now.  However, if disagreements arise or attitudes change, it is better to have an order in place than to wish you did.

Enforcing Child Custody Orders

Having an agreement or order in place allows you to go to court and get an order to enforce the arrangement if any of these issues arise:

• One parent wants to move far away
• Either parent intentionally keeps the children beyond their parenting time
• Either parent repeatedly forgets to turn over the children for scheduled time/visitation
• Legal, religious, or medical decisions need to be made with your input
• Either parent remarries or begins a new relationship that endangers the children
• A new stepparent wants to adopt your children

• Either parent abuses or neglects shared children.

Without a custody agreement or order in place, you will need to get one of those first before the court can enforce anything.  Before you get a chance to stop it, the other parent may have signed a lease in another state or spent weeks ignoring your calls, ratcheting up the urgency.

When an order is in place, you can take the existing order to court and demand the other parent follow through with their requirements.  This can help you get your custody time back or keep your children from being taken across the country.

Modifying Child Custody Agreements in South Jersey

If you and the other parent want to change something about your parenting arrangement, you can usually do so by agreement.  This allows you to work together to handle the co-parenting arrangement how you want, dividing time or trading weekends on your own terms.

If there is a problem you cannot come to an agreement on, you should each get your child custody lawyers involved.  The attorneys can represent each of you and negotiate terms and agreements, potentially helping you arrive at an answer without the courts.

If negotiations are not working, you can always go to court to demand modification.  This can be based on new changes and factors in custody decisions, such as the following:

• A parent taking on additional hours at work
• Changes in homelife
• A work-related relocation
• Remarriage
• Birth of a new half-sibling
• New health conditions, disabilities, mental health issues, or substance use issues
• Abuse or other dangerous circumstances.

What Determines Child Custody Rights in South Jersey?

First, child custody can be arranged by agreement.  This means that the parents can sit down with their lawyers and draft up the rules for parenting time, day-to-day decisions, religious/medical decisions, and more.  This means no outside factors or decisions are necessary.

Otherwise, if the decision goes to the judge, the best interests of the child are first and foremost in the judge's mind.  Judges must account account many factors, including the following:

• The child's safety
• Willingness of each parent
• Parents' ability to cooperate and communicate
• Availability (e.g., work, time with other children)
• Availability of other childcare (e.g., from a grandparent or stepparent)
• A parent's physical and mental health
• Fitness
• Time spent with child before separation
• Homelife
• Stability (e.g., owned home vs. constantly moving parent)
• Continuity in child's education
• Past or current abuse, drug use, criminality, etc.
• How far apart the parents live (e.g., nearby parents can trade off custody more easily)
• Access to other family relationships (e.g., siblings, aunts/uncles, grandparents, cousins)
• Special care needs for the children (e.g., one parent's house is not handicap accessible).

Factors similar to those discussed above regarding changes in custody are also taken into account, such as a potential move for work or a newfound disability for the parent.

A child's own views -- especially for older children -- should also be taken into account.

What is Joint Custody?

If both parents are willing and able to share parenting time, joint custody is usually the best outcome.  With joint custody, both parents retain legal custody but split parenting time/physical custody and its related responsibilities.

Legal Custody Rights

This means that both parents get input in major decisions, e.g.,

• Medical care
• Which religion the child practices
• What school the child attends.

However, day-to-day decisions are usually handled by the parent who has physical custody at the time.  For example...

• What is for dinner
• Bedtime
• Whether they can play before or after doing homework.

Parents often have divergent views on these issues, but custody agreements and orders can help determine who gets to make which decisions, when the other parent gets input, etc.

Parenting Time

Parenting time -- also called physical custody -- is often divided depending on the specific situation.  The goal is usually to be fair, but time might be divided unevenly because of practical considerations such as the children attending school Monday through Friday.

Custody can be 50/50 if the parents live close together, but many cases involve one parent having the children during the week and the other parent getting alternate weekends and holidays.  Some cases involve one primary parent with the other getting periodic visitation rights, potentially with supervision if there has been past abuse or other issues.

Call Our South Jersey Child Custody Lawyer Today

Call (609) 359-3345 to schedule a flat rate consultation on your case with child custody lawyer Carl Taylor today. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield, Gloucester, or anywhere else in the surrounding area, we would be happy to help.

Take the First Step?

Schedule a Flat Rate $250.00 Consultation with the firm and receive a 1-2 hour strategy session with Carl and a complementary copy of his book "Happily Even After: the Guide to Divorce in New Jersey.