What You Should Know About Child Custody

Being separated from your child is one of the greatest fears any parent could ever encounter. However, there are circumstances that a couple can truly say that they’ve done everything to work things out but failed to keep the relationship intact. As you may have already guessed, these situations often lead to divorce which leaves the child or children—the fruit of the relationship—torn.

While it may not always be the case, child custody can become messy especially if both parents want to gain custody of their offspring. This usually leads to custodial cases.

Basics of Custody
Before going through with the case, a parent fighting for custody of his or her child should learn the basics of custody.

The so-called “custodial parent” is the one who is granted custody of the child during legal separation, divorce or annulment. The custodial parent is the one chosen by court to have both physical and legal custody of the child or children, while the other parent is granted visitation rights.

Physical custody means having the right to live with the child. This, however, does not mean that a child cannot live and spend significant amounts of time with both parents while they stay in two different households. However, this so-called “joint physical custody” only works if the former couple lives near each other so as not to bring too much stress to their child.

On the other hand, legal custody is granted to a parent who has the right and responsibility to decide on matters related to how the child should be raised. The federal law also allows both parents to share in this type of custody. However, if one of you decide to make a decision without consulting your ex, there is a good chance that he or she can drag you into court and ask for a judge to enforce custodial agreement.

Help at Falletta-Klein
While it may all seem messy, child custody cases can easily be resolved with the help of Stephen N. Falletta of the Falleta-Klein Law Firm in San Diego, California. All you need to do is bring your case to him with the necessary documents and information so he can help you resolve conflict without inflicting so much stress on the young one.