Who Gets Custody Of Child In Divorce

Deciding on who the child gets to live with or residency arrangements for your children after you and your partner break up or separate is a complicated issue. On the condition that both of you cannot decide who gets custody of child in divorce, it is the court who has the final say. Depending on the situation and individual circumstances, child custody in divorce can be a very painful process.

Who Gets Custody of Child In Divorce: Parental Responsibility and Residency

Even if a married couple separates, both individuals have to perform parental or mother and father roles to the children that they leave behind. If the parents are unmarried and decide to break up, it is always the mother who gets custody of child in divorce or separation.

This has changed since year 2002 when unmarried fathers can now have a say in who gets custody of child in divorce. A father gains parental responsibility if he jointly registers the birth of his child with the mother. A father can also gain parental responsibility if, together with his former partner, he signs a Parental Responsibility Agreement. This agreement can be signed in any phase or time period of the relationship or in separation. This power can also be ordered by the court during and after separation and divorce.

Whether or not fathers have parental custody and responsibility, fathers have the responsibility to financially cover and support their children.

Other than these, a statement of arrangements is usually filed after separation and divorce which suggests who gets custody of child in divorce or separation, where, which schools the children are going to attend, who visits them and how often, and who will care for them.

The divorce petitioner usually present the statement of arrangements to the other party for agreement before it is submitted to the courts. The courts encourage both parents to compromise and set mutual goals in the physical care and legal decision-making of the children, among others.

Who Gets Custody of Child In Divorce: The Best Interests of the Child

The main criteria on who gets custody of child in divorce would be the best interests of the child. The following factors necessitate the best interests of the child.

In considering the “best interests of the child”, the court, and the parents or guardians must consider the following criteria in no exact ranking or order: (a) preferences of the children and (b) their emotional ties to each parent; (c) lifestyle and social factors of each parent and (d) the ties their children have to the home, school and community; (e) the capability and willingness of each parent to provide for the needs of the child; (f) the family’s history of domestic abuse, child abuse and substance abuse in their many forms; and (g) the continuing special health needs and age of the child.

For a child custody agreement to work, parents must agree on a specific child custody arrangement. A child custody agreement is usually informal and voluntary, out-of-court decisions while child custody arrangements would normally focus on the decisions of court on who gets custody of child in divorce and separation and whether parental responsibility and jurisdiction covers physical, legal, sole or shared responsibility.