Child Custody Agreements
A divorce is painful enough but when there are children involved and the question of custody of children arises, it gets all the more painful. It is always a tough decision to make when you have to choose who keeps custody of the child between the two parents. However, choosing between two parents is not always the case. There are various types of child custody agreements that a court of law can decide upon and in some cases both parents get to keep custody of the child for alternate periods of time.
Sole custody is a kind of arrangement where one parent gets the sole
responsibility of raising the child. While courts normally try and include both
parents in the child custody agreement so that the child gets the attention of
both a father and a mother, this becomes impossible in some cases. For example,
if one parent has a consistent history of drug or alcohol abuse or has a
criminal record etc., the other parent is normally awarded sole custody of the
child. Divorced couples are normally counseled against asking for sole custody
unless it is unavoidable since the involvement of both parents is considered
necessary for all-round development of the child.
Joint child custody is one of the best forms of child custody agreements where everyone stand to gain and is discussed in more detail here.
Other than the above two there is also the Bird’s nest custody. This is
essentially a joint custody arrangement, the difference being that in this case
the child stays in one home for the whole period of the arrangement but the
respective parent moves into the house when his / her turn to have custody of
the child comes and the other parent moves out to a separate residence when the
period of custody under his / her comes to an end.
There are several other forms of child custody agreements too and in each case
the judicial process decides what’s best. Visitation rights, legal custody,
physical custody etc. is awarded to the parents in a fashion as deemed necessary
by the court.
