Los Angeles Divorce Attorney Discusses Custody and Visitation Issues
March 22nd, 2009 at 01:45pm Under Divorce
How can parents decide on a custody visitation plan?
Parents who separate should have a custody visitation or parenting plan for deciding how they will share parenting responsibilities. A custody visitation plan must be in writing signed by both parties a judge to be enforceable.
What if parents cannot agree on a custody visitation plan?
If parents cannot agree on custody visitation on their own they may go to court ask a judge for a temporary order. The Court will first send them to Conciliation Court where a trained mediator tries to help the parties agree. In Los Angeles conciliation services are free. An appointment can be made by calling conciliation services at (213) 974-5524.
If the parties still cannot agree, the Court will make a temporary custody visitation order that is in the best interests of the children. The temporary order will continue until the parties can reach an agreement or until custody visitation is resolved after a trial.
If parents cannot agree on custody visitation, they can also ask the court to appoint a mental health expert such as a psychologist to carry out a custody evaluation. A list of custody evaluators can be found at the Los Angeles Court’s web site at www.lasuperiorcourt.org.
Developing a Plan
While it is difficult to make generalizations about the suitability of various parenting plans many experts agree that during the first years of life, it is important for young children to develop an attachment to a primary caretaker recommend frequent but non-overnight visitation with the non-custodial parent for short periods of time. As the children grow older are better able to develop multiple attachments longer periods of continuous overnight visitation is encouraged.
Consider the practical aspects of any plan
A first step in developing a plan is charting out the schedules of the children both parents. This will help you make realistic choices based upon practical considerations. Take a calendar chart out in a colored pen the activities of each of your children (e.g. when they leave return from school/day care each day, when they go to different activities such as music lessons, when they have vacations etc.) Next, take a different colored pen chart your activities commitments. Include when you go to return from work, go to meetings, go out with friends etc. With another colored pen do the same for the other parent. You should then compare both parents plans to see if there is any common ground.
The childrens best interests
When parents decide custody visitation they should develop a plan around the needs best interests of their children not their needs or schedules. In other words, they should adjust the plan to the children, not the children to the plan. Parents should be looking at their children’s need for love, emotional support security. Parents should take into account their children’s age, personality experiences. Children will generally be better off when both parents are involved participating in their upbringing.
Next you should consider who has historically been responsible for different commitments with the children which parent is practically able to fulfill them in the future. Questions you should consider are:
Who do the children turn to when they have a problem or need to share their feelings?
Who does homework with the children?
What do the children do on the weekends?
Do the children spend time with relatives who takes them?
Who takes the children to medical appointments or picks them up in when they are sick?
Who provides the childrens physical care, such as bathing, changing diapers, arranging for sitters, haircuts, feeding?
How do you your spouse discipline the children set structure for them?
What kind of personal attention do each of you give to the children, such as teaching problem solving, reading, playing together, sharing activities?
Who is responsible for the childrens social activities, such as arranging birthdays, play dates, trick or treating, taking class trips, games, lessons, school plays etc?
For older children one of the key issues is whether a joint custody is more appropriate than an arrangement where the non-custodial parent has alternate weekends one or two overnights during the week. The answer will be different for each family. The parents relationship their level of cooperation also the childrens preferences can be as important as how much time the children physically spend with each parent.
The Legal Aspects of a Plan
Any parenting plan will have to make provision for who gets legal custody who gets physical custody of the children. These are the terms that are used in agreements.
Legal custody means which parent gets to make important decisions about the children’s education, religious upbringing, medical treatment other legal decisions. If one parent gets to make these decisions they have sole legal custody. If both parents get to make those decisions together, they have joint legal custody. It is rare for one parent to be granted sole legal custody unless there are issues of domestic violence substance abuse or there is a history of the parents being unable to communicate In deciding on issues relating to legal custody, form Joint Legal Custody Attachment FL-341 (E) which has been approved by the Judicial Council of California is helpful. It can be found at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/.
Physical custody means who the children live with on a daily basis. A parent has sole physical custody if the primary residence of the child is with that parent. The non-custodial parent then has visitation rights. The parents have joint physical custody if the children live with each parent for significant periods of time during the week.
A custody visitation plan should be consistent detailed. It should spell out who gets the children when where in enough detail so that it is easy to underst enforce. Important questions are who has the children in the week on the weekends? Who transports the children for exchanges to activities? Who gets the children on holidays vacations? In California, the Judicial Counsel has developed forms to be used when requesting custody visitation. The forms Child Custody Visitation Attachment FL-311 Children’s Holiday Schedule Attachment can be found at www. Courtinfo.ca.gov/forms are helpful in developing plans.
Sample physical custody plans
Some states have developed model parenting plans that take into account what is appropriate for children of different ages stages of development. The Oregon Judicial Department has developed a Basic Parenting Plan for Parents that can be found at: http://www.ojd.state.or.us/osca/cpsd/courtimprovement/familylaw/parentingplan.htm. The Supreme Court for the State of Arizona has also developed a model parenting plan that can be found at: www.supreme.state.az.us/dr/Text/ModelPTPlans.htm
The following samples are based on those parenting plans.
Birth to 12 months
Sample Language:
Commencing on , Parent A shall have physical custody of the minor child(ren) each week on Tuesday Thursday from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 pm. Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Parent A shall be responsible for picking up dropping of the minor child(ren) at the residence of Parent B. Parent B shall have physical custody of the minor child(ren) at all other times not designated as Parent As time.
Comments:
At this young age, infants form a primary attachment to one parent long periods of absence from the primary attachment figure may be traumatic. Parents should minimize the infants basic sleep, feeding waking cycles.
Pre-schooler 3 5 years
The parties alternate weekends the non-custodial parent has one evening or overnight during the week.
Sample Language:
A. Commencing on , Parent A shall have physical custody of the minor child(ren) alternate weekends from Friday, after the end of school/child care/camp (or at 5:30 p.m. if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp), when Parent A shall pick up the child(ren) from school/child care/camps, or at Parent Bs residence if the child(ren) are not in school/child care, until Monday, at the start of school/child care (or at 8:00 a.m. if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp), when Parent A shall drop the minor child(ren) off at school/child care/camp or at Parent Bs residence if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp.
B.Commencing on , Parent A shall have physical custody of the minor child(ren) each week from Wednesday, after the end of school/child care camp (or at 5:30 p.m. if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp), when Parent A shall pick up the child(ren) from school/child care/camp, or at Parent Bs residence if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp, until Thursday, at the start of school/child care/camp(or at 8:00 a.m. if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp), when Parent A shall drop the minor child(ren) off at school/child care/camp or at Parent Bs residence if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp.
C.Parent B shall have physical custody of the minor child(ren) at all other times not designated as Parent As time.
* Instead of referring to alternate weekends, a plan can refer to 1st, 3rd 5th weekends of the month. This generally avoids any confusion about which parents has custody on any given weekend.
Comments:
It may be suitable where Parent B has not been very involved in the day to day care of the child has a busy work schedule. Three to five year olds may show increased anxiety moving between parents homes. This does not necessarily reflect on whether the other parent is not a good parent or does not want to be with the other parent. Depending on the maturity of the child the practicality of the exchanges these times can be negotiated so that Parent A only has the child one or two evenings in the week has shorter or longer weekends.
2:2:3 Joint Physical Custody for older children
The parties alternate weekends each parent has the children two days in the week.
Sample Language:
A.Commencing on , Parent A shall have physical custody of the minor child(ren) each week from Monday, at the start of school/child care/camp (or at 8:00 a.m. if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp), when Parent B shall drop the minor child(ren) off at school/child care/camp, or at Parent As residence if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp, subject to paragraph C below, until Wednesday, at the start of school/child care/camp (or at 8:00 a.m. if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp), when Parent A shall drop the minor child(ren) off at school/child care/camp or at Parent Bs residence if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp.
B.Commencing on , Parent B shall have physical custody of the minor child(ren) each week from Wednesday, at the start of school/child care/camp (or at 8:00 a.m. if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp), when Parent A shall drop the child(ren) off at school/child care/camp or at Parent Bs residence if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp, until Friday, at the start of school/child care/camp (or at 8:00 a.m. if the children are not in school/child care/camp), when Parent B shall drop the child(ren) off at school/child care/camp or at Parent As residence if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp, subject to paragraph C below.
C.The parties shall alternate physical custody of the minor child(ren) during the weekends, from Friday, at the start the start of school (or at 8:00 a.m. if the children are not in school), until their return to school on Monday (or at 8:00 a.m. if the children are not in school) when the children shall be returned to their respective school or to the receiving parents residence, in the event the children are not in school.
Comments:
The child spends no longer than three days/nights away from either parent.
2:2:5:5 Joint Physical Custody For Older Children
The parties alternate two five day periods with the children. Each parent has two consecutive midweek overnights each week alternate the weekends.
Sample Language:
A.In Week 1, commencing , Parent A shall have physical custody of the minor child(ren) each week from Monday, at the start of school/child care/camp (or at 8:00 a.m. if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp), when Parent B shall drop the minor child(ren) off at school/child care/camp, or at Parent As residence if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp, until Wednesday, at the start of school/child care/camp (or at 8:00 a.m. if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp), when Parent A shall drop the minor child(ren) off at school/child care/camp or at Parent Bs residence if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp.
B.In Week 1 2, commencing , Parent A shall have physical custody of the minor child(ren) on Friday, after the end of school/child care/camp (or at 5:30 p.m. if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp), when Parent A shall pick up the child(ren) from school/child care/camps, or at Parent Bs residence if the child(ren) are not in school/child care, until the following Wednesday, at the start of school/child care (or at 8:00 a.m. if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp), when Parent A shall drop the minor child(ren) off at school/child care/camp or at Parent Bs residence if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp.
C. After the conclusion of Week 2, the two week rotation shall commence again with the physical custody schedule set forth above for Week 1.
D.Parent B shall have custody of the children at all times not designated as Parent As time.
Comments: The works better for well adjusted children who have a good attachment to both parents. It allows for joint physical custody but each child is only away from the non-custodial parent for five days.
Alternating Weeks - Joint Physical Custody
Sample Language:
Commencing , on alternate weeks thereafter, Parent A shall have physical custody of the minor child(ren) from Monday at the start of school/child care/camp, or from 12:00 noon if the child(ren) are not in school/child care/camp, until Parent A returns the child(ren) to school the following Monday at the commencement of school, or 12:00 noon if the child(ren) is not in school/child care/camp, when Parent A shall return the child(ren) to Parent Bs residence. Parent B shall have custody of the child(ren) at all other times.
Comments:
The children may need to have mid-week contact with the non-custodial parent. This schedule can be altered to provide for a mid-week evening or overnight with the non-custodial parent.
Sample Legal Custody Plans
In deciding on issues relating to legal custody, form Joint Legal Custody Attachment FL-341 (E) which has been approved by the Judicial Council of California is helpful. It can be found at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/ Where both parents are cooperative are able to communicate the following joint legal custody language can be used.
Sample Language:
The parties shall have joint legal custody of the child(ren). In exercising joint legal custody, the parties shall make every reasonable effort to foster feelings of affection between themselves the child(ren). The parties shall cooperate consult with one another so as to reach mutual agreement on all issues affecting the health, education welfare of the children, including but not limited to the following:
(1)Enrollment or termination in a particular private or public school/child care/summer camp;
(2)Beginning or ending the regular practice of religion;
(3)Commencement of psychiatric, psychological or other mental health counseling or therapy;
(4)Authorizing the childrens drivers licenses;
(5)Passport applications;
(6)Enrollment in regular extracurricular activities;
(7)Non-emergency medical or dental treatment, other than routine check-ups.
Links
www.lasuperiorcourt.org
www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/
http://www.ojd.state.or.us/osca/cpsd/courtimprovement/familylaw/parentingplan.htm
www.supreme.state.az.us/dr/Text/ModelPTPlans.htm
www.warrenrshiell,.om
2006 Warren R. Shiell. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this article is for informational purposes only shall not constitute legal advice. Nothing in this Website shall be deemed to create an Attorney-Client relationship. An Attorney-Client relationship shall only be created when this office agrees to represent a Client a Client signs a written retainer agreement.
LAW OFFICES OF WARREN R. SHIELL
Telephone: (310) 247-9913
Email: LaFamilyLaw@yahoo.com
http://www.warrenrshiell.com
The Law Offices of Warren R. Shiell devotes its practice solely to the field of family law. We hle all aspects of family matrimonial law matters, including dissolution of marriage, separation, nullity, custody/visitation disputes, support, paternity, division valuation of property. Warren R. Shiell is a member of the California New York Bar. He has won several cases at the New York Appellate Division. He graduated from Oxford University with an M.A. in law attended the University of Southern California. He is a member of the Family Law section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He was a legal consultant on The Guardian on CBS. He has lectured published articles on behalf of various local Bar Associations.
Author: Warren R. Shiell
Keywords: Los Angeles Divorce Family Law attorney lawyer custody visitation parenting plan california
Power by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips
Related posts
By admin Add comment