Post Divorce Parental Rights
One of the toughest parts of any divorce is the custody mediation. When children are involved the impact of a divorce expands from just the splitting couple to the unwitting children who were just along for the ride. After all is said and done with the initial divorce proceedings and the custody rights are established, it’s still important to remember that the rulings are not permanent and you should constantly be re-evaluating post-divorce parental rights. Whether you have full custody rights or joint custody rights after the initial custody determination, you always need to take a look at that arrangement and make sure that it continues to make sense.
Full custody is almost never granted unless one parent can prove that spending time with the other parent could cause emotional, psychological or physical harm to the child due to addiction, abuse or an unstable home. If you were the parent who was grant sole custody, you need to still make sure that you document everything that the other parent still does in case someday in the future, they decide to pursue partial custody of their child. If they haven’t cleaned up their life, you’ll be armed with the information to support your position that joint custody still isn’t in the child’s best interest.
Alternatively, if you are a parent that does not have any custodial rights and want to change that, you need to do your best to show that court system that you have changed and your circumstances have changed as well. You’ll likewise need proof and supporting documentation that not only spending time with you will be beneficial to the child, but also that you are capable of making decisions that are in the child’s best interest.
Like anything, custody rights in a divorce are not permanent, and should be constantly re-evaluated and updated to reflect what’s best for the child.