Sole Custody Rights in New York
By Wisselman, Harounian & Associates, P.C.
Dec. 10, 2010 5:15p
There are two types of custody when the custody. The first type, (physical custody) has to do with where the child lives and with which parent. The other type, (legal custody) involves the rights and responsibilities to make decisions for the child's welfare such as where the child lives, what school they go to, what religion they are raised in and what activities they will partake in.
In joint custody, both parents make the major decisions about their child together. The smaller, every day decisions in joint custody are made by the parent who primarily cares for the child or has the child most of the time. In sole custody, only one parent has the legal right to make the major decisions about the child.
How Does Sole Custody Work?
Even though one parent has sole custody of a child, in most cases, the courts will allow the parent who does not have custody to have some sort of visits with the child, unless it is not thought to be in the best interest of the child. The visits can be unsupervised, supervised or supervised by a mental health professional. In addition, the visits may involve either a safe place of exchange or a monitored exchange
Sole custody is usually awarded to one parent when the other parent is somehow unable to care for the child or when it would not be in the child's best interests for the other parent to care for them. Typical examples where sole custody would be awarded to one parent over the other are when drug abuse, alcohol abuse, domestic abuse or mental insanity are involved or when one parent continues to put the child in dangerous situations.
When the court determines whether or not one parent should be awarded sole custody they will look at the following:
- Which parent has been the primary caregiver
- Domestic violence in the family
- Work schedules and child care plans
- If there are any siblings
- What the child wants
- The parents ability to provide for the child
If you need help getting full custody of a child, whether you are a parent, a grandparent or other family member, a Long Island sole custody attorney at W
isselman, Harounian & Associates, P.C.can help.
Contact a Long Island Sole Custody Lawyer at our firm for a free consultation.
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