Do You Know About The Best Interests Of Your Child?

If you are divorcing and have children under the age of 18, you might be confronted with the term "the best interest of the child". This may not seem like a legal term, but it means a lot when you and your spouse are making divorce decisions that can affect your children. To find out more about the meaning of this term, read on.

Putting Children First

As a parent, you probably often try to do what is best for your child — as most parents do. However, the family court system often sees parents who temporarily get so caught up in the divorce proceedings that they forget about that priority. It might be easier to understand what the court means by the best interest of the child by considering that, as parents, your needs come second to what is best for the child. The judge will see it that way when a decision needs to be made and you should remember it also. It will make it easier to deal with parenting plans like child custody, visitation, support, and more.

Getting More Information

When parents disagree on some aspect of the parenting plan, judges may use outside help to help them determine what is best for the child. For example, if both parents believe they should have primary physical custody of the child, the judge could order that the entire family undergo a child custody evaluation. This evaluation, or child study, is carried out by interviewing the child (using age-appropriate means), both parents, and sometimes, teachers and pediatricians. These neutral third-party professional evaluators turn over the results of their study to the judge and this is often used to determine custody and visitation when the parents are at odds with each other.

Examples of Best Interest

To further explore what is meant by the best interest of the child, consider these examples:

1. One parent wants full physical custody and wants to prevent the other parent from spending any time whatsoever with the child. Given that the other parent is fit to parent, that is a red flag to the judge because having both parents on hand to spend time with the child is a key facet of the best interest doctrine.
2. One parent has coached the child to say untrue and unproven things about the other parent.
3. One parent plans to immediately move away with the child to another state or country once the divorce is final.

Making custody and visitation decisions based on what is best for the child comes naturally to good parents. Speak to your divorce lawyer or visit a site like https://www.molnarlaw.com to find out more. 

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