After divorce, it’s probably too late to legally adopt a stepchild. At that point in time, the biological parent is not going to be interested in having their spouse they’re divorcing adopt their child. However, there is still a possibility of having visitation rights with their stepchild or even custody rights if there is a […]
Parenting and Stepfamily Issues
If a relocation takes place, would changes have to be made to parenting time?
That’s correct. That’s what we would do. We would work out a new parenting plan. A lot of times when people move out of state or very far away, we have to factor in transportation expenses, who’s going to pay those, how much are they going to be, and is it feasible for that other […]
What happens if one parent wants to move away and take the children?
First of all, if a parent wants to move away, we consider that to be a substantial change in circumstances, which allows us to file a petition for relocation – that’s what it’s called. Either parent can file that petition. They have to give notice at least 60 days before. They have to have all […]
Does a parent need permission from the other parent to do the same things with their child…
Does a parent need permission from the other parent to do the same things with their child as they did when the family was intact?
At what point, if the child is distressed enough, should parenting arrangements be changed?
The first thing I would do, if it was my client that had the child, is encourage them to get the child into counseling immediately to find out what’s going on. Second of all, I would then encourage them to include the other parent in the counseling with the kid so you can find out […]
What kind of decisions do the parents still have to make together?
They have to decide with the schools, whether they’re going to be public or private. The court cannot send a child to private without the parent’s consent or force them to pay for it. There’s school, there’s whether the kid needs IEPs. Does the kid need a tutor? All those things roll into the education […]
If a child is living by choice with a parent full-time but the court granted equal parenting rights and responsibilities…
If a child is living by choice with a parent full-time but the court granted equal parenting rights and responsibilities and time to both parents, should the de facto full-time parent apply to change the agreement to reflect this reality?
If there’s a lot of conflict between the parents, can they still share equal parenting rights and responsibilities?
What we have to do is we have to separate the party’s relationship from the party’s relationship with the children. The hardest part of a divorce lawyer’s job is to get the people to visualize that we’re not dealing with their husband or wife anymore, we’re dealing with their relationship with the kid and what […]
If a parent has gone into a residential program for drug or alcohol abuse, are parenting rights transferred to the grandparents?
You could do something called a standby guardianship, which gives guardianship to whomever the grandparent is until the mother or father can come out of it. You can enter an order where the parties are in agreement that the grandparents will have the kids until further order of court. There’s a whole myriad of different […]
Can parenting rights and time be awarded to grandparents either temporarily or permanently if both parents are deemed unfit?
That’s a high threshold to first find them unfit. Yes, there’s a new section in the statute that allows grandparents, stepparents, and siblings to come in and ask the court to have parenting time or, in that case, visitation because we want to distinguish it from parenting time. Those people are allowed to have visitation, […]
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