Child custody is a major issue in nearly every case when married parents get divorced. Naturally, most parents want what is best for their children, but they may not agree on what “best for the children” looks like.
So they may disagree on whether to share custody, or if one parent should have sole custody and the other reserves visitation time. Even if they do decide the latter arrangement is best, they could each want to be the parent with custody.
Even when the parents agree on a basic child custody plan, coming up with the nuts and bolts of the arrangement can be tricky. After all, an impractical plan which one of the parents cannot abide by, perhaps because they cannot deliver the child on the specified days of the week, is not worth the paper it is printed on.
Once the spouses negotiate a child support plan, or the court orders one, it often becomes necessary to modify it. One of the parents may experience a life change, like a move out of state, that requires them to change the time they spend with the kids. Or maybe the children’s schooling later in life makes it so that they must spend more time with one parent than before.
Before the custody plan is modified, it is important that both parents continue to abide by it. Violating the plan can cause big problems for the children and the other parent, who can ask the court to enforce the plan and place a contempt order on the violating parent.
This is just a broad overview of potential complications in raising children after divorce. Your divorce attorney can help you minimize the risk of a difficult struggle over custody.