Determining Custody In The Child’s Best Interest

When it comes to child custody, child support or juvenile law, the best interests of the child are at the heart of the law. Whether parents are married or unmarried, they are responsible for caring for children that they brought into the world or adopted. Best interest factors in Michigan child custody cases include the following:

• The love, affection and other emotional ties existing between the parties involved and the child.
• The capacity and disposition of the parties involved to give the child love, affection and guidance and the continuation of the educating and raising of the child in its religion or creed, if any.
• The capacity and disposition of the parties involved to provide the child with clothing, medical care, food and other remedial care recognized and permitted under the laws of this state in place of medical care, and other needs.
• The length of time the child has lived in a stable satisfactory environment, and the desirability of maintaining continuity.
• The permanence, as a family unit, of the existing or proposed custodial home. The moral fitness of the parties involved.
• The mental and physical health of the parties involved.
• The home, school and community record of the child.
• The willingness and ability of each of the parents to facilitate and encourage close and continuing parent-child relationship between the child and the other parent.
• Domestic violence, regardless of whether the violence was directed against, or witnessed, by the child.
• Any other factor considered by the court to be of relevance to a particular custody dispute.

Our Approach To Custody Matters

When family law attorneys of Marrs & Terry, PLLC, represent clients of the law firm in child custody matters, we begin by going through the relevance of these factors to the clients’ family circumstances. As advocates in family law court, our goal is to be able to present to the court how our clients’ interaction with their children are applicable to these best-interest factors.

What will this mean to your family? Your parental rights? Your children’s well-being? Contact us to learn what we can do to position you and your children for the best attainable outcome given your family circumstances. Your solution may look like one or more of these scenarios:

• Sole physical custody for you or the other parent
• Sole legal custody for you or the other parent
• Joint legal and/or physical custody
• Grandparent custody or visitation

We find that the best solutions usually come from parents themselves. For this reason, we encourage and promote mediation as the preferred means of conflict resolution in many cases. During your divorce, you and your spouse may arrange for joint custody in the family home, with the two of you working opposite shifts. This is just one example of a creative, constructive solution to the problem of child custody during and after your Michigan divorce or separation.

Family Law Issues Affect Your Whole Life. Contact Us For Comprehensive Assistance.

Family law attorneys of Marrs & Terry, PLLC, are available to advise you on other legal issues that may or may not be affected by family restructuring, including the following:

• Probate Law
• Real Estate Law
• Deed Preparation and Recording
• Title Opinions
• Land Contract Preparation
• Collection Actions

Also see our bankruptcy and foreclosure site if you face overwhelming financial difficulties.

Contact us online , or call us toll-free at 866-665-8095.