Life...

Who Will Get The Children

The most common outcome is for the mother to get sole physical custody , and for both parents to have joint legal custody .

School vacations and holidays are typically divided between the parents.

Typically, the father gets visitation rights. A typical visitation schedule is every other weekend and one weeknight.

On the other hand, there is a trend today to giving the husband custody more than was previously the case. This trend is driven by the fact that more men are willing to put in the time and make the sacrifices that physical custody requires.

And on the opposite side of the spectrum, if both spouses work in full-time demanding jobs, neither parent is spending time with the child during the day. In these cases, the traditional reasons a judge might favor the mother become less relevant.

Almost all divorces result in negotiated agreements. As a result, the answer to the question "who will get the children" almost always is, "whoever you both agree." And almost anything you can agree will be OK'd by your judge -- unless it is very clearly unfair to one of the parties or very clearly bad for the children.

However, the agreement couples reach sometimes depends on what they think a judge would do if they went to trial. And so, although you are free to craft any agreement you choose, if you are not cooperating very well on crafting an agreement, you will probably end up with an agreement close to what a judge in your county would dictate.

Email this page on to a friend.

Disclaimer: We are not giving legal advice. No warranties. We disclaim all legal liability. More...