Child Custody in Upland, CA
Child Custody Disputes
Child custody refers to the legal parents’ or guardians’ rights to child custody. It means raising the child in the most ideal setting possible. It is also known as legal or custodial responsibility for the child. Protecting children from abuse and exploitation is part of the legal responsibilities of parents or guardians. The custody procedure includes the child’s physical and legal relationship with both parents. Custody is granted to decide the best environment for the child’s future.
A court may issue various child custody orders. The court will determine child custody based on whether your child would be harmed if he or she lived with either parent or both. A court will also consider your child’s best interests while determining custody decisions. Your reliable Upland family law attorney can help you every step of the way when faced with situations involving child custody.
What Are the Child Custody Orders in California?
There are two orders of child custody: Legal and physical.
Legal Custody
It refers to who has the authority and obligation to make critical choices concerning your child’s welfare, education, and health. It can be classified into:
1. Sole Legal Custody
A sole legal custody order implies “one parent has the authority and obligation to make choices about a child’s welfare, education, and health.” Thus, only you or the other parent may decide where your child goes to school, what religion they follow, their medical care, travel plans, and residency.
2. Joint Legal Custody
A joint (shared) legal custody order implies the right and duty of you and your spouse to share the responsibility in deciding a child’s welfare, education, and health.
Let’s say you and your partner have shared legal custody, and you can’t agree on a child’s health, education, or welfare. In this case, you must return to court to seek the judge’s decision in determining what is best for your child. In these circumstances, you must first speak with an experienced child custody attorney.
A judge may refuse you or your spouse shared legal custody. The court may see being in prison, having severe mental health issues or domestic violence history rendering you unfit to make health, education, or welfare decisions for your child.
Physical Custody
A physical custody order determines the parent with whom the child will reside. It can be divided into:
1. Primary Physical Custody
A sole physical custody agreement states that “the child will stay with and be monitored by one parent, subject to court visitation orders.” With this custody, the opposed parent has “visitation rights”.
2. Joint Physical Custody
In a joint physical custody agreement, “each parent has considerable periods of physical custody.” The purpose of this custody is to guarantee your child has regular and ongoing contact with both parents. School and employment commitments may cause time spent with both parents to be unequal.
Visitation Rights
Visitation orders come in a variety of forms:
Scheduled Visitation:
This order defines the days and hours the parent will see your child if they have visitation rights.
Reasonable Visitation
It enables unlimited visitation. Both parents may be flexible about visiting days and hours.
Supervised Visitation
It pertains If your child’s safety or well-being is at risk, the parent who has visitation rights may be supervised. You or a professional agency may oversee the other parent.
Remember that in particularly challenging and complicated child custody litigation, courts will prefer to provide a specified visitation order describing the days and hours both parents spend with your child to prevent continued lawsuits about what is “reasonable” visitation.
What Is the Difference Between Sole Custody and Joint Custody?
Sole Custody
A sole custody order provides you or your spouse exclusive physical and legal child custody. If the court acknowledges you as the custodial parent, you have legal and physical child custody. If the court deems it advantageous for your child, the other parent may get visitation rights. You would also have complete control over your child’s welfare, education, and health.
Joint Custody
Joint custody is defined as joint physical and legal custody in California Family Code Section 3002. With joint custody, both parents have equal responsibility for your child’s welfare, education, and health. Your child may live with both parents, but not necessarily equally. Time is difficult to split when you have commitments like school and work.
Child’s Best Interests Standard
What does “best interests of the child” imply in California child custody law? It is the deciding element in every child custody lawsuit. The child’s “best interest” is vague and comprehensive, yet you need to know it to win your child custody battle.
The California best interest standard allows the court to set a custody and visitation arrangement in the child’s best interest.
The term “discretion” is crucial. It offers the Family Court enough discretion that there is seldom a right or incorrect judgment until the judge abuses it.
The judicial authority in determining the child’s best interests makes child custody rulings challenging to overturn. An appeal court must determine (with limited circumstances) that the judge misused their discretion while analyzing and balancing the evidence.
Changes in Child Custody
Sometimes, original child custody agreements expire. It’s generally due to a shift in you, your child’s, or your circumstances. It is possible to change a parent’s custody or visiting privileges. The Law Offices of Marc Grossman can help you modify a custody order and help you in making decisions.
California law acknowledges that children grow up and circumstances change for the adults involved. Either parent may change a broken custody arrangement. To have a petition approved in California, you must establish a significant change in circumstances. Some of the benefits of granting a petition include:
- School or other routine changes of your child
- A new career for one parent complicates parenting
- Military mobilization
- Evidence that the other parent’s home is unsafe. (It includes accusations of neglect, aggressiveness, criminal behavior, and drug and sexual abuses; however, you must demonstrate them at court.)
- The other parent refuses to cooperate on topics relating to your child’s welfare, education, and health
- A parent moves out of state
The Law Offices of Marc Grossman can assist you in adequately petitioning the court for a custody change. We also help parents in rescinding unwelcome custody changes. Uncontested custody changes are easy to make and require little time. If the other parent opposes, you will likely wind up in court.
Emergency Jurisdiction
A court in California may have temporary jurisdiction over them if:
- The child resides in California
- The child has been left behind (without the care or supervision that is reasonable and required)
- The child, a sibling, or the child’s parent is in danger
It’s vital in an emergency when a child’s safety is in jeopardy. First, the court must have a full and impartial hearing on the subject of maltreatment or abuse. Emergency custody orders are only temporary. The California court’s emergency order lasts until the other court rules or the time restriction expires.
Nobody knows what laws and procedures apply when temporary emergency jurisdiction is utilized for safeguarding a child.
Petition To Move
Moving a joint-custodial or custodial parent often causes custody concerns. That’s particularly true if one parent feels the other is interfering with custody or visits. Moving out of state requires proof that it is not in the child’s best interests. Maybe your spouse wants to stop seeing you or take custody. The transfer may potentially impair the minor’s schooling, relationships with family, or stability. If the other parent doesn’t object, the parent must petition the court.
Experienced Child Custody Attorneys in Upland, CA
Child custody issues are difficult to grasp. If you are battling child custody or custody arrangements, you will need an experienced lawyer in Upland, California, to assist you throughout the legal process and gain custody of the child. The Law Offices of Marc Grossman’s child custody attorneys have the expertise and experience to get you the best result. We have been handling child custody cases for over 20 years.
The Law Office of Marc Grossman provides honest and effective legal representation. We will help you with your child custody and family law concerns. Please call us at 855-566-4911 for your legal rights or book a schedule for a free consultation. We are committed to providing quality, reasonably priced legal services to our clients. We serve Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, and the surrounding areas.