CHILD CUSTODY
Daniel B. Halpern, Attorney
111 North Market Street
Suite 1010
San Jose, California 95113
Phone: 408-286-8595
Fax: 408-286-8597
Email:
dhalpern@halpernlegal.com
Website: halpernlegal.com
Silicon Valley Family Law Attorney Daniel B. Halpern Puts His Courtroom Experience to Work in Child Custody Cases
A parent in the midst of a child custody battle needs to have an experienced trial attorney on his side. For more information on the law practice of Daniel B. Halpern, see Family Law in San Jose, CA. Below are some of the governing concepts of child custody.Physical Custody:
Physical custody means that a parent has the right to have a child live with him or her. Joint physical custody may be awarded to both parents when the child spends significant amounts of time with both parents. Joint physical custody works best if parents live relatively near to each other, as it lessens the stress on the children and the amount of travel and interruption of their activities that they have to endure. When a child lives primarily with one parent and has visitation with the other, generally the parent with whom the child primarily lives will have sole physical custody, with visitation to the other parent.
Legal Custody:
For a parent to have legal custody of a child means that the parent has the right and the obligation to make decisions about the child's upbringing. A parent with legal custody can make decisions about schooling, religion, and medical care, for example. Courts regularly award joint legal custody, which means that the decision making is shared by both parents.
If you share joint legal custody with you child's other parent and you exclude him or her from the decision-making process, your ex can take you back to court and ask the judge to enforce the custody agreement.
If it is impossible to share joint legal custody, because the other parent won't communicate with you or is abusive, you can ask the court for sole legal custody. Your attorney will have to convince a family court judge that it is not in the best interests of your child to be the subject of his two parents' joint legal custody.
Sole Custody:
One parent can have either sole legal custody or sole physical custody of a child. Courts generally won't hesitate to award sole physical custody to one parent if the other parent is deemed unfit -- for example, because of alcohol or drug dependency, a new partner who is unfit, or charges of child abuse or neglect. It's best not to seek sole custody unless the other parent causes direct harm to the children.
Information from Nolo Glossary.
Daniel B. Halpern, Attorney
111 North Market Street
Suite 1010
San Jose, CA 95113
Phone: 408-286-8595
Fax: 408-286-8597
Email:
dhalpern@halpernlegal.com
Website: halpernlegal.com
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