Family Law: Custody and Parenting time

When it comes to your children the most important thing is having a close and nurturing relationship. At the end of any custody case or divorce case with children, the court makes a ruling on which parent will have legal custody of the parties' child or children and how much parenting time each parent will have with the child or children.

The parent with sole legal custody will have the power to make all of the major life decisions for the child or children. If the parties settle out of court they can agree on joint legal custody, in which they would continue to work together to make decisions regarding their child or children. A trial court cannot grant joint custody. Once a parent has been granted sole custody, the other parent must prove that the custodial parent has had a substantial negative change in his or her ability to parent in order to have the court modify the custody designation. This is a very high hurdle. Which means that it is especially important to have the proper outcome at trial.

The court will also develop a detailed parenting plan. The Oregon Judicial Department has developed a Parenting Plans Guide which is available at www.ojd.state.or.us/osca/cpsd/courtimprovement/familylaw/parentingplan.htm. The parenting plan will lay out the visitation times for each parent and detail the rules of parenting time.

The lawyers at Stephens Margolin P.C. have experience litigating complex custody disputes and creating detailed parenting plans which protect their client's relationship with their children.

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