Author: Lisa Gelman

In making an order on custody and access, the court will look at what is in the best interest of the child(ren). The conditions, means and needs of the children are all taken into account in making this order. The factors a court will consider are: Love, affection and emotional ties between those people claiming …

A separation agreement can be registered with the court. The benefit of this is that its terms can then be enforced by the court. In this way, custody arrangements agreed to in a separation agreement can be enforced. This is also beneficial for support provisions. Child support, for example, can then be referred to the …

Written agreements are important for custody arrangements. Of the many issues in family law, child custody is perhaps the most emotionally charged. For this reason, it can also become the most expensive sort of litigation that might result from your separation. In most cases, however, couples are able to compromise on custody without forcing this …

It is possible that a judge order no access but this is extremely rare. If the judge is persuaded, however, that a child may come to some harm or danger if access is not monitored, the judge can order that visitation be supervised. Supervised visitation sometimes occur in the visiting parent’s home. The supervisor in …

Access is a non-custodial parent’s right to spend time with their child and the child’s right to spend time with that parent. A parent who has access also has the right to receive information about a child’s health, education, and welfare. The parent with access, however, does not have a right to make decisions about …

Since custody disputes can take a long time to go through court, it is important to decide with whom children will reside during the process. If you and your spouse cannot agree about where the child will live, you can ask the court to make a temporary order. The temporary order can set out the …

The best chance for a child to get their choice of who to live with is if the parents can come to a mutual agreement in which the child’s wishes are adhered to.The child does not necessarily get to decide where s/he lives, if either you or your spouse disagrees strongly enough with your child’s …

No. Although many clients think they can tie child support payments to visitation privileges, it is important that you understand that the one is legally independent of the other in terms of either unilaterally withholding support or suspending visitation. The law views it as beneficial for a child to have a relationship with both parents. …

Since every parent has an obligation to financially support their child, and since a custodial parent will have many day to day expenses, they are entitled to support from the other spouse. If each parent has the child at least 40% of the time, they are said to have “shared custody”. This is not the …