We're Here to Help with Child Custody
When a relationship comes to an end and the couple has one or more children together, the situation is much different than a break up where kids aren’t involved.
Rather than get to go their separate ways, ending all ties between them, couples with children in common have a lasting tie that binds them together forever.
They must find new ways to communicate with each other, figure out how they will effectively co-parent their children and hopefully not expend unreasonable amounts of time, money and stress doing so.
Establishing an effective co-parenting relationship usually requires both parents being willing to compromise and communicate, even if at a minimal level.
One key to achieving a successful co-parenting relationship is to create a detailed framework and ground rules that allow co-parents to peacefully co-exist as best as possible in their situation.
This requires drafting a workable parenting plan with sufficient detail so that the co-parents avoid or greatly reduce the amount of drama, arguments and efforts to put the child in the middle.
Establishing a workable parenting plan is step one. Parents must also figure out who must pay child support and the amount to be paid each month under the Child Support Guidelines.
Yet, getting a plan and support order in place that works with the facts and circumstances of the family at that time, does not mean that plan will properly serve the family forever.
Instead, over time things change, new opportunities arise, kids get older and it becomes necessary to make changes to the parenting plan.
Co-parents then face what can be a challenging issue of how to make changes to their custody court papers.
If the co-parents disagree with a certain request, then they face a contested modification case, which can be extremely expensive.