Jun

3

New Jersey Child Custody 101

Filed Under Child Custody & Visitation, Child Support, Impact on Children | 1 Comment

For divorcing spouses with children, the issue of custody is perhaps the most important and stressful issue with which to deal. Custody issues are generally divided into two concepts: Legal Custody and Physical Custody.

Legal Custody

Legal custody is defined as a parent’s decision-making responsibilities and can be arranged into two kinds, joint legal custody or sole custody. Joint legal custody arrangements require both parents to discuss and agree on major decisions concerning the child or children, such as medical, education, safety, and general welfare. Conversely, sole legal custody grants one parent the exclusive authority over the decision-making process without input from the other parent.

Physical Custody

Physical custody is defined as the right and obligation of a parent to have his or her child or children live with them. In many instances, one parent is awarded the primary residential custody of the child or children. This parent is referred to as the “primary residential custodian” and is responsible for the daily supervision, lodging and decision-making. The other party or the “non-physical custodial parent,” is conferred rights of visitation or rights of physical custody in accordance with an agreed-upon schedule or court order.

Types of Custody Arrangements

There are many variations of custody arrangements recognized by the courts. Parents are afforded broad discretion to create visitation or “parenting time” schedules aimed at continuing parental contact with the child or children, after the parents have separated or dissolved the marriage. In many cases, parents share physical custody whereby the child or children spend equal amounts of time with both parents throughout the year. The parties may also request that the court order any type of physical custody that serves the best interest of the children.

Factors Considered by the Courts

In making an award of custody, courts will consider several factors, including, but not limited to, (a) the parents’ ability to agree, communicate and cooperate in matters relating to the child or children; (b) the parents’ willingness to accept custody and any history of unwillingness to allow parenting tine not based on substantiated abuse; (c) the interaction and relationship of the child with its parents and siblings; (d) the history of domestic violence, if any; (e) the preference of the child when of sufficient age; (f) the stability of the home environment offered; and (g) the fitness of the parents. Generally, a parent cannot be deemed unfit unless his or her conduct has a substantial adverse effect on the child or children.

Tender Years Doctrine

In New Jersey, courts often employ the “tender years doctrine” when deciding custody matters. The doctrine holds that while the rights of both parents are equal to the custody of children, a child or children of tender years ordinarily is awarded to the mother if she is a fit and proper person. This doctrine, however, is subordinate to both the best interest of the child or children and the equal rights of both parents to the custody of their child or children.

Posted by Jason Medina
Medina, Martinez & Castroll, LLC

Jan

15

Finding The Strength To Pick-Up The Phone

Filed Under Divorce & Separation, Family Law Basics, Impact on Children | Leave a Comment

So, January is the month when New Year’s resolutions are made and broken. And with the wind of fresh starts lifting them up, January is also the month when divorce filings skyrocket. In fact, it’s second only to June, when the kids are out of school and living arrangements can be altered before the start of the next school year.

Typically, parties are prompted to reach out to a divorce attorney in January because either they didn’t want to spoil the family celebrations or were hoping that the holidays would help them reconcile.

Either way, our office sees an influx of calls by new prospective clients who are ready to pull the trigger on their divorce in January and usually a couple of weeks after the New Years, once bills and the return to the routine underscore the same marital problems that existed before the holidays.

Posted by Victor J. Medina -
Medina, Martinez & Castroll, LLC

Oct

14

Comments on Dating after Divorce

Filed Under Alternative Roads in Family Law, Father's Rights in Family Law, Impact on Children | 2 Comments

I was reading one of my favorite blogs, California Divorce & Family Law, and came across this post regarding Dating After Divorce.

I’ll leave it to you to read the post because it’s interesting, but briefly, it tells a story of divorced parents getting back into the dating scene. Coincidentally, the post quotes a story from the Hartford Courant in Connecticut, where I grew up.

It makes me think about my own experience as the child of divorced parents. My parents divorced when I was 2 and both remarried when I was about 5. I can honestly say that I never remember seeing either one of them date until I met the people they eventually married. I’m no psychologist, though I married one, but I have to figure that part of the reason my parent’s divorce was so smooth was because my parent’s kept their divorce, including their dating, to themselves and kept me entirely out of it. Well, as out of it as can be expected given that mom and dad lived in different houses and I saw dad on the weekends, etc.

For what it’s worth, nothing about my parents’ divorce and my experience with it got me interested in family law, except to the extent that I get clients who are serious about collaborative divorce and I hope that their divorce has as little impact on their children as my parents’ did on me.

Posted by Victor J. Medina -
Medina, Martinez & Castroll, LLC

Sep

26

School Starts, Marriage Ends

Filed Under Divorce & Separation, Impact on Children, Mediation & Collaboration in Family Law | Leave a Comment

The UPI recently ran a story that said that the end of summer is one of the most common times of the year to start divorce proceedings.

Included in the story was this:

The lawyers said the end of summer is rivaled only by the close of the Christmas season for amount of annual divorces, ABC News reported Tuesday.
…
“This is usually the deferral of a decision that’s been made months earlier,” said James Hennenhoefer, a family law attorney in Vista, Calif.

Our practice has experience similar surges in divorces. The common theme is that couples are waiting for the good times to be over before creating havoc in the home. Although James Hennenhoefer’s suggestion is about the end of summer, it’s typically true that divorces after the close of Christmas are also the deferral of decisions made in the past (usually before the start of the “holiday season”).

Posted by Victor J. Medina
Medina, Martinez & Castroll, LLC

Sep

18

First Post

Filed Under Adoption & Guardianship, Alimony, Alternative Roads in Family Law, Assets & Debts, Attorney-Client Relationship, Child Custody & Visitation, Child Support, Divorce & Separation, Domestic Abuse, Family Law Basics, Father's Rights in Family Law, Impact on Children, Marriage & Family, Mediation & Collaboration in Family Law, Property & Asset Distribution | 1 Comment

It seems that every weblog starts with a post called “First Post” and I don’t want to jinx the success of this blog by deviating from the standard. Not to mention, this gives me a chance to test the blog. So, here’s “First Post” - this is going to be a great resource for family law, especially in New Jersey.