Questions to Ask Before Fighting Over the Kids

Perhaps the most natural thing to fight about during a divorce is custody. After all, it hurts to lose any time with your child and you certainly don’t want your relationship with your children to deteriorate. Instead of immediately fighting, though, the Overland Park KS family lawyers at Sarah Carmody Law recommend asking a few questions first.

The first thing to discuss with both your former partner and with your attorney is exactly what kind of custody arrangement for which you are looking. Custody is far more complicated than the media makes it look, and it’s changed quite a bit over the course of decades. When one parent wants joint custody, for example, that may not necessarily mean that he or she is looking to have the children exactly half the time – it may just mean that your former spouse wants to continue to be a major part of the child’s life.

It’s also good to ask questions about how certain types of custody may or may not impact your future. Certain agreements may restrict where you are able to move, how you might be able to travel, or it might even greatly restrict the types of decisions that you make with and for your children. As such, you need to know exactly how things are going to impact your life before you start fighting for a particular type of agreement.

Don’t get trapped into fighting just for the sake of fighting. Ask about what type of custody the other party wants and then try to figure out what that arrangement will realistically mean for both you and for your children. If you find that an agreement is not possible, though, you will need good representation. When you’re worried about custody issues, make sure to contact the Overland Park KS family lawyers at Sarah Carmody Law at 913-257-3110 for the help you deserve.