Are you navigating a child custody matter in Monroe, LA? An experienced Monroe child custody lawyer at Knight Law Firm can help you reach the most favorable solution possible. Contact our law offices in Monroe, Louisiana at (318) 323-2213 to schedule your consultation today.
Your relationship with your child is too important to go it alone. Whether you’re contemplating divorce or dealing with an existing child custody arrangement, we’re here to help.
Our founding attorney has over 20 years of experience helping families like yours resolve complex family law matters. Families have trusted our team to help them when it matters most since we opened our law firm almost two decades ago.
We are well prepared to put our skills and legal knowledge to work for your family.
Why Call Knight Law Firm for Help With My Child Custody Case in Monroe?
Child custody disputes are notoriously challenging. Hiring an experienced Monroe divorce attorney can be critical to your ongoing relationship with your child. Even when two parents separate amicably, serious disputes often arise over child custody issues.
Our team at Knight Law Firm has the skills to help you resolve your child custody matter. Our founding attorney is a skilled negotiator who knows the laws inside and out. We’re here to provide sound legal guidance at every stage of the process.
When you hire our law firm to handle your family law issue, we will:
- Make sure you understand your legal rights and obligations
- Handle all paperwork and legal filings
- Help facilitate mediation with your child’s other parent when disputes arise
- Offer workable solutions to disagreements over child custody matters
- Gather evidence to support your proposals
- Help with any issues involving modification of existing arrangements
- Represent you at all hearings before the family law judge
- Pursue the most favorable solution possible
Tensions can run high when it comes to your children. Our Monroe family lawyers know how to help with even the most complicated issues. Contact our law firm today to learn more about how an attorney can help.
Overview of Louisiana Child Custody Laws
Two different types of custody issues must be resolved when two parents separate: legal custody and physical custody. Both sole custody and joint custody arrangements are possible under Louisiana family laws.
Who Determines Child Custody and Parenting Time in Monroe?
Matters are much more simple when two parents can agree on a child custody arrangement. In these cases, the lawyers prepare the proper paperwork and present the proposal to the judge. The judge then examines the proposed arrangement to ensure it’s in the best interests of the child. The situation becomes much more complicated when two parents cannot agree. Disagreement over child custody issues is extremely common. It’s important to know that you have options.
First and foremost, an experienced attorney can facilitate mediation. Through mediation and negotiations with your co-parent’s lawyer, we can often reach a workable solution. Sometimes, it’s a matter of identifying each parent’s priorities and explaining your position in a calm manner. When two parents cannot agree, the family courts will step in. The family law judge will hear both sides of the story and make a decision based on the child’s best interests.
Understanding Legal Custody in Louisiana
Legal custody refers to decision-making authority. While raising a child, a parent must make many important decisions that will impact the child’s life. A parent with legal custody in Monroe has the authority to make decisions about things like the child’s:
- Medical care
- Education and religion
- Extracurricular activities
Two parents can share legal custody. However, it’s sometimes the case that one parent is granted the authority to make the final decision when disagreements occur.
Understanding Physical Custody in Louisiana
Physical custody is also referred to as “parenting time” or “time sharing”. Your physical custody arrangement will dictate when and where the child spends time with each parent. Courts in Louisiana begin with the presumption that both parents should have shared custody. Parents have significant discretion in determining how to divide the child’s time. It’s up to either parent to prove that sole custody is in a child’s best interests.
What Factors Are Considered When Resolving Child Custody Disputes in Monroe County?
As in all other states, decisions over physical and legal custody turn on what’s in the child’s best interests. Under Louisiana law, judges consider all relevant factors when determining whether a child custody agreement is in the child’s best interests. The most important factors courts will consider include:
- The love and affection between the child and each parent
- The bond the child has to each parent
- Each parent’s capacity to provide the child’s basic necessities (food, clothing, healthcare, etc.)
- Each parent’s morality and how it may impact the child
- Each parent’s physical and mental health
- The stability of each parent’s environment
- The distance between the two parents’ residences
- Each parent’s prior history of caring for the child prior to the dispute
- The child’s own background, considering home and school
- The desirability of maintaining a continuous environment for the child
- The permanence of existing and proposed residences
- The child’s physical, emotional, social and religious needs
- Whether one parent can satisfy the child’s needs better than the other
- The child’s own reasonable preferences
- Each parent’s willingness and ability to facilitate or encourage the child’s close and ongoing relationship with their other parent
- How the child is likely to adjust to a new home and community
- Any history of drug or alcohol abuse on the part of either parent
When one parent has a history of child abuse or domestic violence, Monroe family law judges will generally award sole custody to the non-abusive parent.
How Do Time-Sharing Agreements Work in Louisiana?
Except in cases involving serious abuse, each parent has the right to spend time with their child. How that time-sharing works will depend on the situation. It’s possible that both parents can share physical custody equally. The time-sharing agreement will spell out when the child will reside with either parent. It will also address how the child will move between locations.
It’s also possible that the court will award one parent custody. The other parent will then typically be granted visitation rights. The court may also order visitation with a grandparent, step-parent or even step-grandparent, depending on the circumstances.
Can Existing Child Custody Orders Be Modified in Louisiana?
Child custody arrangements in Louisiana can be modified. The most simple way to obtain a modification is for two parents to agree. When both parents agree on the new plan, your lawyers will draw up a new proposal. The judge will examine the proposal and approve it if it’s in the child’s best interests.
When two parents don’t agree, you can request a formal hearing to determine whether a modification should be granted. You’ll generally have to demonstrate that there has been a change of circumstances. That change of circumstances must be significant enough that the child’s best interests would be served by granting the modification.
Child custody modifications can be difficult if two parents don’t agree. It’s important to have an experienced Monroe child custody attorney representing your interests. Whether you are proposing or contesting a modification, call Knight Law Firm for legal assistance today.
What Happens if My Child’s Other Parent Violates the Court’s Child Custody Order?
Like most other states, Louisiana has adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. Once the family law judge finalizes the child custody order, courts in all other states can enforce that order.
Courts have discretion when it comes to enforcing child custody orders. One parent may file a motion asking the court to enforce a child custody arrangement. The judge may issue fines, modify the existing arrangement, or even file criminal charges in extreme cases.
Violations can include a range of activities, such as failure to follow a parenting plan, failure to pay child support, or even communication failures.
What is Parental Alienation?
The divorce process can be messy. One parent may attempt to get revenge against the child’s other parent by putting a strain on the relationship with the other parent. Parental alienation is when a parent does things to damage the child’s relationship with the other parent. Parental alienation can involve bad-mouthing the other parent, name-calling, or even discussing inappropriate details about the parents’ relationship.
Courts want the child to have a positive relationship with both parents. Parental alienation can be incredibly difficult for the parent. It is possible that the court could consider severe parental alienation to be a violation of a child custody order.
Contact an Experienced Monroe Child Custody Lawyer for a Consultation Today
If you have children and are considering a divorce in Louisiana, it’s important to have an experienced Monroe child custody lawyer in your corner from the beginning. Mistakes made by inexperienced lawyers can’t be undone easily. Our team at Knight Law Firm knows how to advocate for the best possible result in your child custody case. Give us a call today to learn more.
