When parents decide to no longer live together, issues of custody take center stage. There are many issues to address. Will physical custody be sole or joint? Will legal custody be for one or both parents? What will the visitation schedule be? Are there special medical, educational or religious considerations? Are there are safety or environmental concerns? Discover how the Law Offices of Gildin and Chapman, located in Manhattan, New York, can help you understand the system and your rights.
Perhaps the hardest aspect of parents separating is what will become of the children? Let me reassure you that most of the time children will not only be fine after their parents separate, but they will actually be better off than they were before. Sure, Mom and Dad no longer live together, but the aggression and lack of love is gone too, generally having been replaced with genuine love and nurturing.
Types of Custody
There are two major aspects of custody. First, there is legal custody – whether one or both parents have decision making authority over the major issues affecting the children. Legal custody comes in a few forms. It can be sole, where one parent makes those major decisions independent of the other parent. It can be joint custody, where both parents make all of those decisions collectively. Or it can even be some type of hybrid approach.
Legal custody is not as all-embracing as it first might seem. ‘Major’ decisions that need to be made within legal custody are far and few between. They are the ‘G-d forbid’ issues that we, as parents, pray never even come up. They are not routine decisions, such as, “what’s for dinner?”. Rather, they are major medical, educational or religious items. Ideally, legal custody would be shared, but that means both parents need to have good communication, cooperation, respect and the same views. But since you are separating, the odds that you can easily co-parent with your soon to be ex without any problems arising is not likely. In order to co-parent both parents must be involved in a dialogue about major issues affecting their child. But if there is no agreement on a given issue, someone needs to make the final decision. One option is for one parent to make those decisions for all major issues. Alternatively, you can even split the areas up. For instance, you can have the final say so on education and activities and your spouse can decide medical and religious issues.
The other area of custody is physical or residential – who will live with the children on a regular basis and who will have visitation. This is more difficult, as both parents love the children and are very used to being them on a daily basis.
Need Help Developing a Parenting Time?
The parent who does not have physical/residential custody will have visitation (also known as ‘parenting time’). Standard liberal parenting time is every other weekend from Friday evening through Sunday evening, one evening mid-week every week for a few hours, shared vacations and holidays and 2-4 weeks during the summer months. This sample schedule, however, is far from required and there are many of variations that are often used.
Finding the best Manhattan Custody Lawyer can make all the difference in the world. Reach out now and speak to one of our experienced attorneys at the Law Offices of Gildin & Chapman. We offer convenient office hours, 24/7 emergency assistance, and flexible financing and payment options designed to help you move forward more easily.
