The effect of a child custody evaluation on your family law case

If you have need a best suitable child custody evaluation on your family law case experience, Spring Divorce Lawyer Houston Texas the great process!

If a judge has approved your or the opposing party’s request to have a child custody evaluation conducted, or has ordered one done on their own, it is logical that he or she would place a great amount of weight on this evidence.

This means that the results of the evaluation will be seriously considered by the judge and will likely have a tremendous impact on your child custody or divorce case. Whatever the evaluator has to say as far as recommendations are concerned will almost surely be followed by your judge.

Divorce Lawyer in Spring TX: Whatever evidence that you or your opposing party have to provide in a trial if your case makes it that far, may not have much impact at all in how the judge will ultimately rule. That is how critical a child custody evaluation becomes to your case.

BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD

Just as your judge will be tasked with making decisions that are in the best interests of your child, so too will the child custody evaluator. While you and the opposing party may have your own concerns and circumstances that a court should be concerned with, at the end of the day it is primarily what is best for your child that will be considered by a judge.

With that said, if you and your opposing party are able to negotiate on your final orders and come together to resolve your issues prior to trial it will be in everyone’s best interests.

No parents are going to create final orders that do not suit their children first and foremost. Even if you feel that your opposing party is out for their own self-interest first and foremost you would not agree to a settlement plan that did not place your child’s interests ahead of either parent’s.

Furthermore, you and the other parent are better equipped to arrive at a settlement that takes into consideration all of the particular circumstances that distinguish your case from any other that goes before the judge.

Spring TX Divorce Lawyer: Judges are more apt to create cookie cutter orders based on their inability to know exactly what your family needs due to a lack of time and resources to be able to fully understand your situation. This is not a criticism of judges, this is just human nature.

BREAKING DOWN WHAT BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD MEANS

We all have a pretty decent idea, I think, as to what is in the Best Interests of a Child. Certainly what is in the best interest of my children may not be in the best interests of your children and vice versa. However, there are some overarching and common themes that should apply to all children who have a family law case in Texas.

Abuse and Neglect

Being protected against abuse and neglect is probably foremost in terms of what is in the best interest of a child. If we start our discussion here we can build up into other concepts that are a little more aspirational. No child should have to deal with abuse or neglect.

No excuses and no qualifications on that. A judge and child custody evaluator will look at your situation and identify is abuse or neglect has occurred. If so, recommendations and orders from the court will be set forth that do what it takes to protect your child.

Relationship with Both Parents

Houston Divorce Lawyer: Secondly, the emphasis in court these days is to make sure that every child has an opportunity to have a relationship with both of their parents.

This isn’t to say that some children won’t gravitate towards one parent or the other, but overall the evaluator and judge will want to ensure that your child can have a good relationship, or an opportunity for one, with both you and the opposing party. If it appears that one or both of you are not doing what it takes to help further this goal then the court will have to make orders to remedy this situation.

Parental Alienation

Parental alienation is a topic that family law attorneys, unfortunately, encounter with some regularity and is something that will be watched for by a child custody evaluator. Part of both you and your child’s other parent is given an equal chance to develop a meaningful relationship with your child is both of you encouraging your child to spend time with each of you. It is very easy for your child to become influenced by you or the other parent in a negative fashion if you are speaking poorly of him or her or otherwise attempting to influence their opinion.

Your child will view you and their other parent through the eyes of a child, not those of an adult. If you are sharing your adult perspective with them about how and why you and your ex-spouse are divorcing then that will be information that not only can your child probably not understand but will surely have an effect on how he or she views each of you. This is a recipe for disaster and is not behavior that is going to benefit your child.

Taking the Time

Divorce Lawyer in Houston: If you do not take some time and effort to support the relationship your child has with both of their parents then a court may view this as behavior that is not conducive to acting in your child’s best interests.

Even if it is not something that you relish or get excited about, reminding your child that both of their parents do love him or her is good for your child and for your family law case.

HOW TO PREPARE FOR A CHILD CUSTODY EVALUATION- THE TOPIC OF TOMORROW’S BLOG POST

Some steps that you can take to prepare for your own child custody evaluation will be the subject of tomorrow’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan… Continue Reading