Visitation Rights
Child Visitation Attorney in Orange County
This is one of those issues that is truly best determined by agreement of both parents of the child.
The issues of child custody and child support can be very simple or very complicated. Judges are legally required to make child custody and child visitation orders that are in the best interest of the child. The Judge’s opinion of what is in the child’s best interest is seldom in line with either parent’s opinion. This is one of those issues that is truly best determined by agreement of both parents of the child. Nobody knows your children better than you.
That being said, sometimes one parent truly is a danger to the children. There could be issues of abuse, drug or alcohol abuse, or other neglect. In those cases, the parents are unlikely to agree on a custodial schedule that pleases both parent, and you may very well be forced to litigate the issues of child custody and child support.
It is generally understood that the more custodial time you have with your children, the more child support you are likely to receive (or less you have to pay). However, if this is specifically mentioned or discussed out loud in court, the judge would be furious that you are trading custodial time with your children for money.
The best approach is to determine what kind of schedule is in the best interest of the child and then run the numbers to find out what child support the schedule will result in. If the court even gets a hint that the timeshare schedule is about money, it will reflect very bad for the parent who is requesting the financially beneficial schedule. We know this is not always the order in which these issues are approached, but the Court will ask the parties to take the money out of the equation and sincerely look at what is in the best interest of your children.