Determining Child Custody
by Aaron Dishon, Esq.
Few issues in dissolution of marriage are more emotionally charged than the issue of child custody.
The court is customarily charged with determining what is in the best interest of the child. In a contest between two parents, the outcome determinative question is whether it is in the best interest of the child to be placed with mom, or with dad primarily and what contact the child should have with the non-primary custodial parent.
In reaching its first child custody order, generally the court will first consider the status quo. If the wheel is not broken, there will be little reason to fix it. For this reason it is important to establish a pattern of parenting and child sharing consistent with that which you, as buffered by the other parent, determine and ascertain is in the child's best interest.
The court will generally assume that the pattern of conduct and sharing entertained and practiced by the parents prior to filing for divorce is at least a valid starting point. Although the pattern previously established may not be perfect, and may need adjustment, the court feels safe in adopting that plan because it is a plan which the parents have tacitly, if not expressly, previous agreed upon.
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