Family Law - 5 Terms You Need to Know

Regardless of whether you are getting a divorce, or going through a trial separation, educating yourself about family law and all of the divorce and separation processes will help you go a long way to protecting yourself, your assets, and your children, if any. Here are five terms you need to know to help you understand any issues that might arise as a part of your divorce proceedings.

1. Custody: Residential custody refers to the legal arrangement that determines which parent a child or children will live with. Legal custody on the other hand, makes explicit which parent has the ability to make legal decisions for the child regarding healthcare, education or religion. There are as many different types of custody arrangements as there are families. From joint custody where children spend a reasonable amount of time with either parent, or sole custody wherein one parent is solely responsible for the child’s well being. 

 2. Visitation Guidelines: To help ease the transition of a divorce for a child, visitation guidelines spell out explicitly where the child will spend the majority of his time during the week, as well as on the weekends, and during vacations and holidays. Having these guidelines in place helps avoid any trauma and stress should a dispute arise.

3. Best Interests: For parents seeking sole custody, if the other spouse also wants custody, the court will grant custody to the person who is determined to be able to best provide for the best interests of the child. This is a relatively subjective and complicated measure of which parent can best provide the monetary, physical, and emotional resources a child needs to develop into a healthy, responsible adult.

4. Child Support Guidelines: It may be decided by the courts that one parent is required to provide monetary support to the child and the residential guardian. This is typically a standard formula that varies from state to state.

5. Parenting Plan: A parenting plan is a document that lays out an arrangement for how and where your child will spend his or her time, as well as how the parents will collectively or individually make legal decisions for the child. Having a parenting plan in place is a great way to minimize the emotional stress of divorce on a child.

Contact one of our family law specialists to learn more about the divorce and custody processes today!