2 Tips For Handling A Child Custody Battle

Are you struggling to decide what will happen with child custody after a divorce? This is one situation you definitely do not want to make a mistake in, as it can impact both you and your kids. Here are a few tips to ensure that you're doing the right things.

Never Withhold Temporary Visitation

One parent may be given temporary custody whereas the other parent has visitation rights. In this situation, it is very important that you never withhold those visitation rights from your spouse. Judges hate seeing this happen, and it sets a bad precedent for what you will do when a final custody decision is made. Always follow the rules when it comes to what should be allowed with visitation, even if you do not agree with it. There is a process to request formal changes to visitation if there is actually a problem. 

In addition, you should never let missed temporary child support payments impact visitation rights. These are two totally separate issues that should be handled separately. It is not one parent's right to deny visitation because a child support payment has been missed. 

Never Talk Bad About Your Spouse

Another problem that parents run into is talking badly about their spouse during the divorce process. It is very easy to tell your child negative things about their mom and dad, but it can get back to the judge. This is because a judge may request to talk to the child individually about their home situation, and it can easily get back to a judge about what was said. This will look bad on the parent that said the negative things. As tempting as it may be to tell the truth about how you really feel, you're better off keeping your emotions out of the explanation to your child. 

You should also keep your child out of the divorce process. Sometimes, parents use their child as a way to communicate with the other parent, which can be done by passing notes and asking what the other person is doing. Keep your child out of the situation when possible, since there is no excuse to involve them. It can cause you to lose custody or visitation rights if you do something egregious involving your child when they should have never been involved in the situation. 

Reach out to a family lawyer such as Kenneth J. Molnar if you have more questions about child custody.