Long Beach Child Custody Lawyer
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Long Beach Child Custody Attorney
Few legal cases have the stakes attached that a child custody case involves. Parents who would otherwise amicably divorce or go their separate ways justifiably will fight ferociously in a custody argument. Custody, visitation, and child support are among the most important issues that need to be resolved when parents separate.
When the time comes to lay out the roadmap for a custody arrangement, having elite Long Beach child custody attorney for legal representation can make a significant difference. The Law Office of Stacy L. Campuzano has the experience and expertise needed to protect your best interests and those of your children.
There are lots of important considerations personally and legally to take into account when it comes to child custody cases. California custody cases have their own unique areas of focus that require a skilled family law attorney with state-specific experience to determine child custody in your favor.
The Two Types of Child Custody
Most people associate custody with the physical care of a child under their own roof, and this is true for physical custody. Physical custody determines the primary residence of a child and who their primary caretaker will be. While most separations involving children involve some form of split custody or at least visitation for the parent without physical custody rights, the court will favor stability for the child in the living arrangement the judge deems best.
Besides physical custody, part of the reason the courts are involved is to square away legal custody. Legal custody involves important decisions like where the child will go to school, what religion, if any, they will be brought up in, and what medical care they receive.
While amicably separated parents may prove to be excellent at co-parenting and can make the decisions together, it is still important for the court to spell out legal custody. Ultimately, there needs to be a responsible party making the decisions regarding why the child attends school in a certain district or how a medical issue will be handled.
California courts are steadfast in trying to involve both parents in the lives of their mutual offspring, and so joint custody in either the physical or legal sense is common. The court does have the discretion to award sole custody in the event the stability and safety of the child’s life will be impacted by a joint arrangement. A parent deemed unfit or who is deemed absent from their child’s life can be stripped of any portion of custody while still being held to a mandatory standard of supporting the child.
The Right of the Children to be Supported
California statutes protect the rights and well-being of minor children above all else when assessing the responsibilities of the parents in a custody case. California Family Code 3900 leaves no ambiguity as to the responsibility of parents to support their children until age 18, or until the child finishes high school, and even longer if a disability precludes the child from supporting themself.
Both parents are accountable under California law to provide for their children. That responsibility doesn’t change if the parents are married, divorced, or were never married. The law isn’t just designed to ensure bare minimums of care for children. California’s statewide formula promises the child or children a quality of life commensurate with the financial means of both parents.
The courts have less discretion than once existed in arranging child support, however. The outcomes are mostly formulaic and based on which parent is spending the most time caring for the minor and how much money needs to change hands for an equitable standard of living for that child. Family Code 4053 explicitly states that child support should be used to improve the standard of living in the household where the children live, as well as improve their lives.
The Best Interest of the Most Vulnerable Party
Children are unfortunately along for the ride in court battles that go a long way toward determining their current and future living conditions. Some of the factors a judge hearing a custody case must consider include:
- The age of the children involved
- The relationship between each parent and the children
- The stability of the potential home environment each parent is presenting
- The physical and mental health of the parents and the child
- The ability of the child or children to adapt to new settings and responsibilities
- Each parent’s ability to provide a stable living environment conducive to the safe and healthy upbringing of their children
One of the reasons having a Long Beach child custody attorney is so important when dealing with a custody case is just how little time the judges have to bring cases into the courtroom and pry out the important details. Having an attorney at your side who has done the work before, possibly even with the same judge presiding, is as important, if not more so, than all the evidence you may want to be presented.
Family court hearings are typically allotted very narrow windows of time due to the sheer volume of the caseloads each judge must-hear. Your attorney must be prepared to quickly and succinctly present a case while dispelling negative stories from opposing counsel. It may simply come down to needing an attorney who can appropriately demonstrate the stability provided within your household.
Child Preference in California Child Custody Decisions
There are certain circumstances in which the court can take into account the desires of the child. A child 14 or older can give an opinion in court on preferences for custody and visitation. A child younger than 14 may be questioned by the judge to help clarify the child’s circumstances with each parent for the purposes of determining the child’s best interests.
Family Mediation Is Necessary
Before you have your day in court for a child custody and visitation hearing, parents are required to participate in mediation. California law requires every county to have a mediator available to assist in custody disputes. Just like a judge, the mediator is tasked with impartiality toward the parents and an overriding concern for the welfare of the child.
While a mediator does not deal directly with an attorney and can, in fact, exclude them from participation in a mediation session under California Family Code 217, having representation in place before mediation is important. Your Long Beach child custody lawyer can help preemptively construct the parenting plan you wish to propose in mediation and also will be there for you to contest a mediation recommendation you believe is unfair.
The Role of Paternity for Unmarried Couples
Paternity action through a legal suit can be sought by either parent for a variety of reasons. For a mother, it can be a tool to gain child support from an absentee father who has avoided the responsibility the child represents. On the other hand, a father may bring a suit against a mother to establish paternity to have the benefit of visitation or even a shared custody arrangement.
Once paternity action is used to establish legal parenthood, both parents become stakeholders in the rights and responsibilities of parenting. Some of those rights and responsibilities include:
- Decision making on the topics of healthcare, education, and religion
- Financial contributions to the upbringing of the children
- Time together, whether that be through shared custody or visitation rights
- The right to seek full custody if the custodial parent dies or ceases to be fit to parent
Paternity action doesn’t always involve biological paternity. In the event of adoption followed by a separation, both parents still bear responsibility for the care of the adopted child. Couples in the LGBTQ community can also face complex legal matters when it comes to child custody, depending on their marital status and relationship at the time of adoption.
Regardless of why a paternity or parentage suit is being filed, it’s important to have a family law attorney with the knowledge and experience to see it through successfully. The steps your attorney will help guide you through are:
- Filing court documents to establish your petition
- Preparation of a statement of personal finance to document income and expenses if the goal of the action is to initiate child support
- Completion of any additional documentation the court requires for the case
- Having the suit served on the other parent, who will then be required to respond within 30 days
Child Custody Isn’t a Token for Other Divorce Negotiations
Trying to rush a custody agreement during a divorce or separation is a fruitless endeavor. Some people believe coming to a swift resolution can be the best approach, whether it be to spare the children some of the uncertainty of not knowing what the agreement will be or a belief that being agreeable on custody may be worth concessions elsewhere.
The court will not view give and take in a custody battle as an acceptable negotiation tool for property or other shared assets that need to be divided. Trying to reach a quick conclusion or a personally negotiated one to save on legal fees also runs the risk of backfiring. The court’s role is to make sure, no matter what else transpires before a divorce decree is issued, that the needs of the children have been put first. Having an experienced Long Beach child custody attorney is important to achieve an outcome that isn’t just best for you but for your entire family, too.
How Child Support Is Calculated
Seeking child support isn’t an automatic aspect of seeking custody. If no request for child support is made, and the custodial parent isn’t on any form of public assistance, the court can leave child support out of a custody arrangement. The misconception that child support is automatically included in securing custody is a pitfall for couples trying to untangle a marriage and their parenting arrangement without the help of a lawyer.
It is once again worth noting that there is no requirement for the parents to have ever been married for child support to be requested. As long as the parental relationship with the child can be established, a parent can be held responsible for helping support the child.
The amount of child support is usually determined by the court using a formula accounting for how much custody each parent has and how much income each earns. The custodial parent will be assumed to incur more costs for child-rearing as a result of having the child in their care for the majority of the time.
All income is taken into account when determining child support owed. Wages, tips, bonuses, passive income, investment dividends, and unemployment benefits all must be declared. If facing a child support situation, do not attempt to hide income from the other parent and the court.
California offers a free child support calculator online, but that tool is in no way a substitute for having a family law attorney to represent your interests. The more children involved, especially if one parent or the other already has children as part of another relationship, the more complex the task of the court to set a child support amount. Child support being paid in a previous divorce or separation is taken into consideration when determining income for child support cases.
The Rights of Grandparents in Custody Cases
Grandparents have rights pertaining to visitation and custody in California. A grandparent can become a party to an existing family law case or file a petition on their own behalf to pursue visitation.
Grandparents can also petition for custody if it is in the child’s best interests due to the parents being deemed unfit or the household has become hazardous for the child due to violence or substance abuse in the home. Having a strong child custody attorney is as important for grandparents entering a custody dispute as it is for both parents.
Changing a Long Beach, California Custody Agreement
Custody and child support aren’t set in stone. As circumstances change, the opportunity to redraw the agreement may be petitioned for. Circumstances dictating an update could be a change in the child’s educational needs or significant changes for better or worse in parental income. When you have a family law attorney you’re comfortable with, they can be a resource through years of the child’s upbringing.
Our Experienced Child Custody Attorneys Can Help
If you are even considering a divorce or separation, it’s never too early to start thinking about what legal needs you will have to protect your custody or visitation rights. The Law Office of Stacy L. Campuzano is here for you as a Long Beach child custody attorney. An initial consultation is for us to listen to you and evaluate your case without pressure to choose us or even commit to a course of action. Contact us today to schedule your consultation and make sure experienced and effective attorneys are available to you.
