Which court handles child custody

The Massachusetts child custody statute that applies to divorced parents, Ch. However, the custody statute for children of unmarried parents, Ch.

Prior to or in the absence of an adjudication or voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, the mother shall have custody of a child born out of wedlock. In the absence of an order or judgment of a probate and family court relative to custody, the mother shall continue to have custody of a child after an adjudication of paternity or voluntary acknowledgment of parentage.

In awarding the parents joint custody, the court shall do so only if the parents have entered into an agreement … or the court finds that the parents have successfully exercised joint responsibility for the child prior to the commencement of proceedings pursuant to this chapter and have the ability to communicate and plan with each other concerning the child's best interests.

Finally, when courts are awarding primary physical custody, the unmarried parent statute provides:. In awarding custody to one of the parents, the court shall, to the extent possible, preserve the relationship between the child and the primary caretaker parent.

The court shall also consider where and with whom the child has resided within the six months immediately preceding proceedings pursuant to this chapter and whether one or both of the parents has established a personal and parental relationship with the child or has exercised parental responsibility in the best interests of the child. The combination of factors above creates important differences between how courts handle custody in cases of married vs.

As noted by Attorney Levy in her first legal custody blog :. All of which begs the question: what has a parent who has been awarded legal custody really received? Massachusetts law is surprisingly thin in this regard, and there are several arguments available to parents who lack legal custody and seek to access such records. This elevated standard applies to orders for legal custody, as well as physical custody, for unmarried parents. Regarding divorced or separated parents, however, the custody statute includes a strong presumption in favor of shared legal custody, at least at the temporary order stage:.

Nothing herein shall be construed to create any presumption of temporary shared physical custody. No presumption favoring shared legal custody applies to judges making a final ruling on legal custody. About the Author : Jason V. It will also give you resources to help you in parenting your children during and after separation. Families Change This is an online guide for families going through separation and divorce.

With three versions — one for parents, one for children, and another for teens and pre-teens — it complements the legal information found here. You will also learn about the law in custody and visitation cases and get information on enforcing an existing order. Once you have an agreement, it is finalized in court. Parent education can be very helpful in thinking about what is best for your children. For more information, visit the Parent Education page. The Code of Virginia sets out factors which judges must consider in reviewing and deciding plans for parents' parenting time with their children.

These factors are:. If you already have a court order for custody, visitation or support, the court will only consider a change to that order if there has been a "material change of circumstances" since entry of the last order. Once that has been proven, the court will order a change if the evidence shows a change is in the child's best interest. In any custody or visitation order, the court is required to consider first and foremost the child's best interest. Costs associated with the Guardian Ad Litem will be assessed by the court to the parties and is based upon their ability to pay.

Paternity can be established at birth, either by an Acknowledgement of Paternity or because the mother is married. If the mother is married at the time of birth or anytime in the ten months before the birth of the child, the Commonwealth of Virginia requires that the husband or ex-husband be presumed to be the father of the child. If paternity was not established correctly at birth, parents can address the issue through the court. If a marriage results in multiple children, a court has the authority to separate the children and split the custody between parents in accord with the best interest of each particular child.

Ordinarily, however, the best interests of a child will be to live with that child's siblings, in part for reasons of emotional support. When a court awards exclusive child custody to one parent, the non-custodial parent maintains the right to see and visit the child, absent extraordinary circumstances.

If the court's custody decree fails to mention visitation rights, the law implies the parent's right to visitation. Thus, an express prohibition on visitation must exist within the decree in order to deny parental visitation rights because visitation rights stem from the fact of parenthood. Even though this strong presumption in favor of visitation rights exists, courts may impose restrictions on visitation by noncustodial parents.

If a party convinces the court that visitation rights would be injurious to the child's best interests, then the court possesses the authority to deny visitation rights. This best interest of the child analysis, however, does not give dispositive weight to the child's stated desires because parents inherently possess the right to attempt to repair the parent-child relationship.