Hiring a Child Custody Lawyer

If you are looking to enforce or modify a child custody arrangement, hiring a child custody lawyer with experience should be your top priority.

When going through a divorce with children, the first issue you will need to resolve is child custody. Child support in New Jersey is determined by child custody; and all other expenses not included in child support payments will, too, depend to some degree on the custody arrangement. Start with the question of where your children will live – with whom, and for what days each week, month, or year – and work outward from there.

Hiring a Child Custody Lawyer | Two Types of Child Custody

In New Jersey, there exist two types of child custody:

Legal Custody: This pertains to a parent’s access to school and medical records. New Jersey precedent prefers joint legal custody in all but extreme cases – for example, when there has been a history of child abuse.

Physical Custody: This pertains to where the children will live. While it’s possible to have a 50/50 physical custody arrangement, you have to think hard about the feasibility of this option: complicating factors include the proximity of both parents’ residences, career obligations, etc. Generally, in New Jersey there will be one “parent of primary residence” – the “custodial parent” – and one “parent of alternate residence,” allotted a certain amount of time with the children. There are countless ways to split this time up, accounting for holidays, summers, weekends, weekday dinners, and travel. While you have legitimate desires to be acknowledged in these decisions, it’s important here, as with all other decisions directly pertaining to the children, to put their interests first.

Are you dealing with a potential child custody issue? Contact our experienced New Jersey child custody lawyer today to schedule a free consultation.

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