Your Separate Living Situations
The judge involved in your case will consider the living situation and the kind of living environment that each of you is able to provide your children. It is also important to note that, because the court is motivated by the children’s best interests and because maintaining the children’s status quo (in an effort to cause as little disruption for them as possible), the court may be somewhat predisposed to make the parent with whom the children currently live the primary custodial parent.
Your Ongoing Relationship with Your Children
If you and your divorcing spouse have both been involved, attentive, and loving parents throughout your children’s lives, the factor of your separate relationships with your children is unlikely to play a deciding role. However, if your children’s other parent, for example, has had very little or only intermittent interaction with them, the court will carefully examine this fact.
Your Children’s Preferences
If one or more of your children have reached the age of 12 and the court considers them mature enough to voice an opinion, it is likely to hear your children out regarding their preferences (if either parent requests that the judge do so). However, the court understands that children are not adults and that they need their parents to make important decisions on their behalf, which means that the judge is not going to base his or her decision solely on the preferences of children (but will take them into consideration).
Your Work Demands
The judge will also consider the work demands that both you and your children’s other parent experience. Job factors such as the following can affect the court’s decisions:
A high-powered, high-stress position that requires a lot of overtime
A position that requires extensive travel
A position that requires the parent to be on call
A position with highly irregular hours
While the court understands that parents can have highly demanding jobs, it may be inclined to grant primary custody to the parent whose job does not seriously impede his or her ability to adequately parent.
Do Not Wait to Consult with an Experienced Killeen Family Law Attorney
Child custody concerns can be exceptionally difficult, but Brett Pritchard at The Law Office of Brett H. Pritchard – proudly serving Killeen, Texas – is a trusted family law attorney with an impressive track record of helping parents like you obtain favorable terms that support their parental rights and work for them. We are here for you, too, so please do not wait to contact us online or call us at 254-501-4040 today.
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