Sunday, June 10, 2012
West Palm Beach Contested Child Custody Frequently Asked Questions Part II
This is the second installment of our frequently asked questions (FAQ) post on contested child custody issues. Contested child custody cases are often among the most bitterly contested family law cases, but our West Palm Beach contested custody team works diligently to lower the temperature on such disputes to reduce the stress on our clients and potential negative impact on our clients’ children. Even when a custody dispute starts out contentious, emotions sometimes cool as we assist parties to a paternity action or divorce. It is rare that a Florida parenting plan imposed by a family law judge is more desirable than a parenting plan, albeit imperfect, agreed to by the parties to a Florida divorce or paternity involving custody issues. If you are involved in a child custody dispute in West Palm Beach, we invite you to also review the first part of this two part FAQ. While we have tried to address common issues that callers ask us, you can obtain more detailed and specific information by calling our office and arranging for a free initial consultation.
What if the other parent is discussing the case with my children and otherwise attempting to alienate my children?
The most important advice in this situation is to avoid the temptation to engage in similar behavior to neutralize the impact of disparaging comments to your children. If you have already hired a West Palm Beach contested child custody attorney, you should inform your attorney of the situation. An experienced Florida child custody attorney has many options to address efforts by a parent to alienate the affections of children. Many times an attorney may be appointed to represent your children or the court may order a custody evaluation. If the other parent is engaged in a pattern of disparaging you in front of the children or intentionally frustrating your parent-child relationship, you and your attorney should disclose such inappropriate conduct to the Court. When you mediate your case, you should also make the mediator aware of the situation.
What can the court do to address the issue of my spouse making disparaging comments about me to my children and otherwise trying to poison them against me?
The issue of one parent engaging in a campaign to alienate children from the other parent is an issue that Florida courts take very seriously. One of the factors a Florida judge must consider when applying the best interest of the child standard in fashioning a parenting plan is the willingness of a parent to promote frequent and continuous contact with the other parent. Florida child custody law favors a child having substantial contact with both parents unless one parent has fitness issues that endanger the minor children. When a Florida family court finds that one parent is engaged in efforts to undermine the child’s relationship with the other parent, a court may award more parenting time to the innocent parent. The bottom line is that it is never a good idea to disparage the other parent in your child’s presence either in terms of what is best for your child or the possible implications in a child custody dispute.
The other parent has not paid child support for months so I would like to deny parenting time until I receive my child support?
The issues of paying child support and parenting time are independent of one another. A parent should never unilaterally deny parenting time that has been established in a parenting plan. The proper remedy if a parent is not paying child support may be to have an attorney file a contempt motion. A Florida family law court has a number of powerful tools at its disposal to compel child support payments, including incarceration of someone not paying support. Alternatively, one could seek enforcement through the Florida Department of Revenue. However, if you decide to deny time-sharing to the other parent who is not paying support, then this could actually have an adverse impact on your own time-sharing schedule.
If my spouse has alleged past acts of domestic violence by me, do these allegations matter if there is no evidence I have every abused my children?
Allegations of spousal abuse in a child custody case in Florida are very serious. If your spouse is making this type of allegation, it is essential that you obtain an experienced West Palm Beach child custody attorney. Evidence of domestic violence and sexual violence are statutory factors that may result in very limited or supervised parenting time. Even if you have never been charged with domestic violence and have not been the party to any case involving domestic violence, these allegations can have serious ramifications so it is essential that you obtain legal advice promptly.
Although these answers may address some of your concerns, there are many issues that may be important to parents involved in a West Palm Beach child custody case. No matter where you are located, the experienced West Palm Beach parenting plan attorneys of the Law Offices of James S. Cunha, P.A. are just a phone call away.
Saturday, June 02, 2012
West Palm Beach Contested Child Custody Frequently Asked Questions Part I
The attorneys and staff at our West Palm Beach child custody law firm understand that a troubling aspect of a divorce for most parents is the potential impact on their children. While a marital dissolution can be difficult for children, many parents guided by an experienced West Palm Beach divorce attorney are able to amicably resolve their time-share and parenting plan issues so that their children face a minimum level of animosity, stress and fear about the future. Our compassionate and dedicated team works diligently to seek the best possible outcome for our clients and their children while minimizing the stress and conflict that can prevent reaching a mutually agreeable parenting plan. While we have provided some answers to frequently asked questions regarding parenting plan issues below, the best way to get more detailed information is to contact us to arrange a free initial consultation.
What are the chances that I can get sole custody of my children?
Florida courts focus on promoting frequent ongoing contact with both parents. This means that it is highly unlikely that a court will grant custody (“time-sharing”) exclusively to one parent in a Florida divorce. Even if one of the parents is found to be unfit because of drug or alcohol abuse, supervised time-sharing is a more likely result for the parent deemed to be unfit. It is also probable that if the parent with the substance abuse problem can establish that he/she no longer poses a danger to his or her children, the court will remove the supervision requirement.
What is a parenting plan, and what should it include?
Florida revamped its laws regarding child custody and visitation in 2008 moving away from the traditional concept of a “primary residential parent” to more modern concepts of a parenting plan and time-sharing arrangements. The process of developing custody arrangements in a Florida divorce is now based on developing a parenting plan that includes provisions for communication, sharing information and decision-making and time-sharing arrangements. While a judge will fashion a parenting plan if you cannot agree with your spouse, Mr. Cunha and his legal team will make every attempt to facilitate a negotiated parenting plan including time-sharing arrangements. A negotiated parenting plan will almost always be preferable to one imposed by a family law judge.
The parenting plan must describe in adequate detail how both parents will share and be responsible for the daily tasks associated with the upbringing of their child, the time-sharing schedule arrangements that specify the time that the minor child will spend with each parent, a designation of who will be responsible for any and all forms of health care, school-related matters, other activities, and the methods and technologies that the parents will use to communicate with the child.
How does a Florida court create a parenting plan?
If a Florida family law judge must impose time-sharing arrangements, the court will be guided by the “best interest of the child” based on a number of factors that are outlined in Fla. Stat. § 61.13(3). These factors generally focus on the parenting history of each parent, ability of each parent to meet the child’s needs, and protection of the child's welfare. For a more extensive analysis of these factors see our child custody and parental time-sharing website pages.
What happens if one of the parents in a West Palm Beach divorce wants to relocate with the children?
There is a statutory procedure that must be complied with for either parent to relocate the children more than fifty miles from the children’s primary residence. The moving parent must either obtain the written consent of the other parent or file for a court hearing and provide notice to the other parent. The court will consider factors like the reasons for the move, impact on the other party’s time-sharing and other relevant factors. Experienced West Palm Beach parental relocation attorney James S. Cunha and his legal team can assist you in negotiating and drafting such an agreement or litigating this issue in front of a family law judge.
While this information may provide answers to some of your questions regarding West Palm Beach child custody issues, the best way to obtain more detailed information is to meet with experienced West Palm Beach child custody attorneys at the Law Offices of James S. Cunha, P.A. No matter where you are located, experienced Palm Beach parenting plan attorney James S. Cunha and his legal team are just a phone call away.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Evidence Supports Position that High Conflict Custody Cases Have Adverse Impact on Kids
Palm Beach child custody attorney James S. Cunha and his legal team are committed to developing effective and amicable solutions for parents in child custody disputes. Although it can be very difficult to engage in a constructive parenting relationship with a former spouse, there is a substantial amount of evidence that the less contentious your custody case the better the outcome for your children. The results of a new study, which was published in the American Sociological Review, confirms prior evidence that the ability of parents to avoid animosity and conflict can have significant benefits for children of divorce.
The study tracked children from the time they were in kindergarten until they reached the fifth grade. The parents in the study divorced when the children were either in the first or third grade. The data revealed that children whose parents were involved in acrimonious divorces exhibit deficiencies in social skills, mathematics and a variety of other areas. What is particularly interesting about this report is that it found that these adverse effects were not present in children whose parents were involved in a reasonably cordial divorce.
The specific areas in which children of high conflict divorces demonstrated adverse effects included:
- Challenges in keeping friends
- Deficiencies in math performance
- Diminished empathy toward others
- Inability to relate to children of different backgrounds, races and personalities
- Difficulty with expressing emotions in positive ways
While a fair number of other studies have documented the emotional and behavioral impact of divorce, this study suggests that academic performance may also be adversely impacted. The results also are interesting because they clearly suggest that the divorce process, in of itself, does not necessarily have a negative impact on children. The key is how parents interact and the degree of hostility and conflict involved in the divorce. Interestingly, the researchers did not find that hostility and conflict prior to the divorce process had the same adverse effect. The disparity may be explained by the combination of conflict and loss of support systems during the divorce as well as the changes and transition that often accompanies the process.
One somewhat odd finding from the study is that reading skills do not seem to be affected by high conflict custody cases the way that math performance is impacted. The difference may be linked to the fact that math skills are built upon prior knowledge so that once material is missed and knowledge gaps exist it is difficult to make up for these gaps in the child’s knowledge. Credibility for this theory is found in the fact that children did not make up for this deficiency as time elapsed after the divorce. Those children whose parents were involved in high conflict custody disputes remained about twelve percent behind kids who parents were not involved in contentious divorce and custody cases.
Because our South Florida child custody law firm understands the importance of striving for workable parenting plans that shield children from avoidable conflict, we are committed to finding innovative solutions to help parents move past personal animosity. No matter where you are located, experienced Palm Beach child custody lawyer James S. Cunha and his legal are just a phone call away.
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