Child Custody: A Many Sided Puzzle for a Divorce Lawyer

Anything having to do with children or marriage is pretty much covered by a Louisiana family or divorce lawyer.  This includes things like child support, child custody, community property, and adoption.  Today’s article will take a bird’s eye look at one of these topics: child custody.
In Louisiana the court awarding custody will always consider “the best interests of the child.”  This is only of course if the parents cannot agree first.  In Louisiana the parents of a child do have the opportunity to work out a custodial arrangement of their own, without the help or interference of courts or attorneys.  So often is the case however that couples cannot agree.  The reasons are multitudinous, but a divorce lawyer sometimes is aware that a lot of times that these negotiations are taking place between the parties.  Also, most parents think that they are the most qualified person to care for their kids.
So if the parents cannot agree themselves then a court will decide for them.  There are two basic possibilities for custody of the child: sole custody and joint custody.  Sole custody means that only one parent will have legal custody over the child; and joint custody means that both parents will have some degree of custody.  Even in joint custody scenarios however, one parent will be named “the custodial parent,” which generally makes them a little bit more in charge of various outcomes for the child or children at issue in that case.
If a parent is not granted any custody of the child at all, they still most times will have some degree of visitation rights.  Louisiana takes visitation rights very seriously, because they are wary of cutting one parent totally out of the child’s life.  There are only a few ways that a person might lose their visitation rights of a child, and they involve serious allegations such as physical abuse against the child or felony incarceration.  That said, visitation rights are typically affixed by the court when the custody decree is handed down.
Louisiana law does not like modifying child custody orders after a court has weighed and balanced the best interests of the child – a “considered” decree.  For one thing, it would open the door to constant bickering and legal maneuvering between the parents and the divorce lawyer or other attorney in a battle for the children.  As many may attest to, sometimes these “battles” are less about the child and more about getting back at the other spouse—with the kid stuck in the middle.  Thus, a Louisiana court will only generally change a considered custody order if there have been dramatic and material changes to the home life of the child.
There are other complexities to this area of family law which cannot be explained in depth here.  If you find yourself embroiled in a child custody situation like one outlined above, do not hesitate to contact a Louisiana divorce lawyer today.
Will Beaumont practices law in New Orleans.  The above is just information and not legal advice.