As the divorce rate in the United States continues to climb, so does the number of family law cases that courts are seeing. As the family law cases increase, more parents will be seen in the court rooms fighting for custody over their children. Although many parents don’t want to share custody of their children, it was recently pointed out that in some states, such as Wisconsin, the courts feel that joint custody is the best arrangement.
During divorce cases, parents work with the court to iron out the details of the custody dispute. Not only is it decided who the children will live with, but child support, visitation rights and grandparents? rights are discussed. Before making any decision about custody, courts examine a number of factors to find a situation that works best for the children and is beneficial to them. With that being the goal, joint custody is the best option because it allows both parents to be in the child’s life an equal amount.
Both parents being present in the child’s life is more beneficial than people may realize. It was found that one important factor behind children growing up fatherless is that fathers are often only awarded visitation rights. With the father seeing the children less than the mother, who has been awarded sole custody, the father is not in his children’s lives as much as he should be.
It has been proven that children do better in school and avoid negative behavior when they are raised by both parents, which means that if the father is absent, the child may suffer. Even if the courts in the state some parents live in don’t believe that joint custody is the best option, this is a great reason for parents to consider joint custody when they are getting divorced.
Anyone experiencing a child custody dispute in Texas is encouraged to speak to a family law attorney, as they can assist parents with finding the best custody arrangement to benefit the children involved.
Source: The Cap Times, ” Robert Franklin: For kids, shared custody is clearly best,” Robert Franklin, May 16, 2015