Child custody, support, and visitation rights are decided absent any consideration for the parents. The court's only overriding concern is what is in the best interests of the child. But the closer these disputes are to the birth of the child, the harder they are to resolve. This post will go over the unique issues inherent to establishing child custody rights over a newborn child.
Divorce can bring out the worst in people. Couples who had previously pledged to love one another forever are suddenly fighting tooth and nail over every speck of their joint assets. Sometimes, this animosity can boil over and impact decisions about child custody and visitation during the divorce process. In cases where the other party is not complying with your court ordered right to visitation, tensions can run particularly high.
While same-sex couples gained the right to marry and have that marriage recognized in all 50 states, other family-oriented laws have not yet caught with this new reality. Same-sex couples may assume that, upon divorce, they are entitled to a joint custody arrangement, the same as heterosexual couples. But they would be wrong. Unfortunately, many state laws still rely on the notion of "biological parentage" which can impede a same-sex partner from contesting their parental rights. This post will go over biological parentage and how it may affect you.
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