When married parents in Virginia divorce, or unmarried parents break-up, it not only significantly impacts their lives — it means big changes for their child’s life too. After a divorce or break-up, children must get used to living in two separate households and only being in the care of one parent at a time. This can be very stressful for a child to get through, even if the divorce or break-up is amicable. Therefore, most parents in these situations want to see that their child’s best interests are protected.
In addition, there are a myriad of issues surrounding child custody and visitation that may come up. Of course, a child custody and visitation schedule will need to be established. This includes determining whether parents will share joint legal custody or sole legal custody, and determining whether parents will share joint physical custody or whether one parent will have physical custody and the other parent will have visitation rights.
Then, as time marches on, one or both parents may find that the existing child custody order is no longer working, and a modification is necessary. Also, there are times when one parent fails to honor the child custody order and the other parent must turn to the court for enforcement of the order.
All of these situations can have a major effect on both the parents’ and child’s life moving forward. Due to the complex and sensitive nature of child custody issues, parents may not want to handle them alone. They can engage the services of a family law attorney, such as those at S|S|H|W Sevila | Saunders | Huddleston | White. For the past four decades, these professionals have helped clients resolve their child custody issues, whether it is through negotiations, mediation or litigation. Their child custody and visitation website can be a useful resource for those who have questions about child custody issues.