California Child Custody Laws
As a parent, it’s important for you to understand California child custody laws in order to protect the best interests of your child. In this article, you will discover what these laws cover and require of you.
Child custody cases in California are evaluated by judges who consider the best interests of the children in deciding how parents will share time with those children. Each parent starts out with equal custody rights, and a judge may not give preference to one or the other based on the sex of that parent.
According to California law, there are two guiding principles in custody cases:
- The health, safety, welfare, and education of the children are the court’s primary concern
- Children will benefit from the frequent and continuing contact with both parents
Using these two principles, a judge will determine the circumstances of each case and consider any factor considered relevant in deciding the custody outcome.
There are many factors that are potentially relevant, and to ensure the best outcome, a qualified child custody attorney may be your best option.
Health and Safety Comes First
Before a parent can receive child custody and visitation rights, the judge must decide if that person is worthy of such privilege or if there is any reason to prevent granting it. For example, a judge would probably decide that a parent’s habitual drug or alcohol abuse would be a factor in the health and safety of the child.
If one parent engaged in child abuse in the past that did not result in a court conviction but was corroborated by a reliable source like a child protective agency, this would also limit or prevent custody or visitation.
The law prohibits granting custody with unsupervised visitation to a parent who has committed first-degree murder of the child’s other parent or to a father whose rape of the mother led to the conception of the child.
But there may also be troubling situations where the judge finds that the parent’s history does not pose a risk to the child and explains the reasons in writing.
Testimonies and written records from medical authorities and rehabilitation facilities can play a major role in determining the fitness of a parent to have custody or visitation rights.
Child’s Preference Gets a High Priority
Is the child mature enough to make an intelligent choice regarding future custody? If so, the law requires that his or her wishes be considered. The law does not specify this age of maturity, so the judge must determine how much weight to give to the child’s opinion.
The California Family Code gives child preference a high priority in determining custody. But it is not the only factor of importance. The court is given discretion on issues like the child’s maturity, parental influence, conditioning, and alienation in deciding whether to listen to the child’s opinion and whether to act on it or not.
Factors like these, along with the temperament of the child and the personality and stability of the parents also play into another critical influential factor: bonding.
The child may or may not have bonded with the parents, but bonding is a strong consideration in many of these cases. It isn’t just an issue of time; it is the level of attention and caring shown by the parent. It goes deeper than just spending time with the child. It is about how the child responds to the parent and how close the bond is.
Parents who do not share a strong bond because of their own misconduct may have difficulty getting custody. But this is not a deal-breaker. Weak bonds can be strengthened.
Co-parenting Skills are Evaluated Carefully
Acknowledging that a child benefits from the frequent and continuing contact with both parents, the court must consider which parent is more likely to encourage and foster a positive relationship between the child and the other parent.
The law expects the judge to take into consideration whether one parent is frustrating or preventing communication or refusing to engage in co-parenting. If so, that parent may be unfit for joint or primary custody.
If one parent is uncooperative and has adversely affected the child’s relationship with the other parent, the court may have to seriously consider this misconduct.
Uncooperative parenting and interfering with the other parent’s rights can have serious legal consequences. When a court orders joint legal custody and determines parenting time, there are mandates that must be followed. Violation of these provisions can lead to contempt actions, fines, community service, and even jail time.
Continuity and Stability are Guiding Principles
The court favors maintaining stability and continuity in the child’s life it that is in his or her best interests. Any established patterns of care and emotional bonds with a primary caregiver are important to protect. Sibling relationships are to be protected as well, and a judge will keep siblings together if possible.
A judge will want to know the current status quo for any existing custody arrangement including visitation s rights and will want to know the effects of any changes as they relate to the future interests of the child.
The status quo may be that a schedule has been developed that the parents have followed for some time and it seems to be working for their children. The court will look at this arrangement carefully as the basis for any orders it may make.
If you are the custodial parent who is facing a request for modification to the existing arrangement, you will have to advocate that things should remain as they are.
If you are the noncustodial parent and want a change to the current status, be prepared to explain why this status is not the best for your child. Maybe this is not as good as “it used to be” or it is something that has been forced on you.
There are Both Legal and Physical Custody Options
Legal custody refers to a parent’s authority to participate in major decisions affecting a child’s health, safety, education, and welfare. Physical custody refers to the child’s physical time with a parent.
Joint physical custody means that each parent will have significant periods of physical custody with the child, but not necessarily an equal amount of time with the child.
Joint legal custody may or may not be awarded joint physical custody. Parents may agree to joint legal custody without agreeing to physical custody. Or they have the opportunity to agree to both legal and physical custody.
California law prefers both joint physical and legal custody when both parents can agree to it. If they don’t agree, they are required to attend mediation prior to a contested court proceeding. If they still can’t agree, the court has a wide latitude of discretion to come up with the best parenting arrangement for the child. The judge will determine custody.
Sole physical custody gives one parent the right to have the primary custodial and caretaker role but does not necessarily take away all parenting time from the noncustodial parent. It is usual that, in the case of sole physical custody, the order is granted to one parent while visitation rights (parenting time) is ordered for the other.
Are you in search for a certified attorney to represent you?
Let us help you find one today!