Child Custody Arrangements Can Turn Ugly

By Hersey Richards

If you are a father who pays child support and you have visitation rights your rights can not be taken away by anyone but a judge. If your child's mother is trying to stop you from seeing your child because you have fallen behind on your child support payments you could press charges against her. Child custody cases can turn very ugly if everyone does not do as they should.

When you pay support the mother is suppose to use that support to help support and raise your child. The support you pay is suppose to go towards the child's needs. These needs can be things like clothes, food, school, and housing. If you are behind on the support payments the judge will not take your visitation away from you. They judge wants you and your children to have time together.

The courts want to see a father and his child spending as much time as they can together. Sometimes it can feel as though the system is working against you instead of for you but remember the courts are only trying to help you. In child custody cases fathers usually have a hard time.

If you have taken a pay cut and are spending more time than before with your children you need to ask the courts for another hearing about child support so that you can try to get it lowered. After your divorce and child custody case has been settled you need to keep a copy of the visitation papers with you.

As long as you have your papers showing what days you are suppose to pick up your child their mother can not stop you. If she will not answer her phone or open her door for you to get your child all you have to do is take a police officer with you.

She is required by law to give your child to you. If she does not hand your child over to you and you have to bring the police with you then she will be ticketed by the police and have to go before the judge. The judge could become very upset with the way she is trying to make these decisions about you and your child that he has already made. She could end up losing custody of her child.

Some fathers feel that child support is a payment they have to make each month. In honesty child support is money you pay to help take care of your child because you love them and it is the right thing to do. If you and your child's mother were still together you would be supporting you child.

Why should it be any different after the divorce? Even though you do not live with your children and wife is no reason not to take care of your children. Try to spend as much extra time as you can with your children and support them no matter what in all things financial and emotional. They will thank you for it when they are grown.

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Las Vegas Child Custody Lawyer

By Stephen Daniels

Child custody cases are difficult, expensive and emotional, both for clients and their lawyers. Child custody lawyers should be experienced enough, compassionate enough, and tough enough to either negotiate or litigate the easiest as well as the most complex in contentious custody cases that are pursued in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mullins Law Firm for over twenty (20) years has proven it can efficiently and aggressively handle these complex cases on behalf of their clients.

Child custody law in Nevada has undergone dramatic changes as a result of legislative and Nevada Supreme Court decisions.

* There is no longer a tender years doctrine. Mothers are no longer automatically preferred custodians, but have to prove their fitness just as fathers do.

* Nevada law has changed to favor joint legal and joint physical custody arrangements between parents, where the parents have an equal role in child rearing after divorce or separation.

* Non-custodial parents no longer have to settle for a simple every other weekend schedule. Parents are being required to alternate weeks, or divide the weeks equally, unless they can prove why joint physical custody is not in the best interest of their children.

* Las Vegas Child Custody lawyers have to be sharp enough to quickly analyze the given facts to advise their clients about whether to settle for joint physical custody or fight for primary custody. A recent Supreme Court decision has determined a parent having 40% of custody time qualifies as a joint physical custodian.

* Based upon the decision between primary custody and joint physical custody, parents have to deal with changing legal standards. And their decision impacts the amount child support, relocation issues, where the child attends school, tax deductions and other important parenting issues.

* Parents no longer have to have "equal time" to be considered joint physical custodians.

* Complex factors have to be presented to the Court to facilitate a wise decision to serve the best interest of the children, while not destroying the family.

For instance the "best interests of the child" standard is still the paramount consideration of the Court in Las Vegas Child Custody cases; but sometimes the best interests of the child conflict with a parent's best interests. If the parents share legal and physical custody jointly, there is still child support to be paid by the parent who earns more than the other. The relocation to another state standards change based upon whether the parents share joint physical custody or whether the moving party has primary physical custody. In Potter v. Potter the Nevada Supreme Court decided to make it extremely difficult for a joint physical custodian to relocate to another state without parental consent. With primary physical custody, a parent can more easily relocate.

Custody lawyers need to know how to advise clients and present custody cases to the Court to help their clients prevail. They should know the nuances in the law, and the individual preferences of the judges on how cases should be handled and presented. Joint physical custody is easier to get, but it impacts child support and even school issues. Parents sharing physical custody who do not live in the same area of Las Vegas often cannot decide which school the child should attend.

The Nevada Supreme Court in the Rivero v. Rivero decision has further complicated the distinctions drawn between primary and joint physical custodians. Child custody lawyers unfamiliar with the nuances of these recent changes in the law can make litigating a family court case difficult for all parties involved. At Mullins Law Firm we emphasize making sure our clients are informed, and that our cases are prepared, so as to ensure the best chances of serving the children's best interests, be it through settlement or litigation.

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Mullins Family Law offers seasoned legal advice in the areas of divorce, family law and child custody related cases with over 40 years combined legal experience. Mullins Law Firm has handled cases in front of the family court,district court and the Nevada Supreme Court. This article powered by SEO 2.0 Services