Oklahoma Child Custody Lawyer

Child custody is often the most difficult issue to resolve during a divorce. A father used to tucking a child in bed every night may only be able to do so two nights a week. A mother used to monitoring the child's diet, and homework might worry about a disruption of that routine. If the parents do not handle the issue well, the child may suffer as a result. The role of the family court is to see that any arrangement agreed upon or determined in a trial is in the best interests of the child. My role as an attorney in child custody proceedings is to help my client negotiate a parenting plan that provides maximum, high-quality time between my client and his/her child.

Sole Custody, Joint Custody, Full Custody, Shared Custody?

There is much confusion about the various types of custody:

Kid Painting

Physical custody: Primary physical custody refers to the parent with whom the child lives a majority of the time.
Legal custody: A parent with legal custody has the right to participate in important decisions, including those involving education and medical care.
Sole custody: A parent with sole custody has both legal and physical custody. The child's other parent has visitation rights and is entitled to information about education and medical treatment. However, final decision-making authority resides with the parent who has sole custody.

Joint custody: In a joint custody or shared parenting arrangement, parents have equal legal custody rights, although the child may spend more time at one home than the other. One parent typically has primary physical custody while the other parent has standard visitation (every other weekend and one weeknight) or extended/expanded visitation. The primary custodial parent may be either a father or a mother.
These are general descriptions of custody arrangements. Custody arrangements can be tailored to your children's specific needs.

Whether your child custody proceedings are part of your divorce, or you have never been married to your child's other parent and are going through a paternity proceeding, you will be making financially and emotionally critical decisions. Not only will the court's custody order determine how much time you will have with your children, but it will also affect the amount of child support payments. It will be my goal as your lawyer to help you use the process to establish the basis for a working relationship with your child's other parent. We may be able to accomplish this through mediation or other collaborative methods, avoiding the expense and emotional trauma of a trial. However, I am fully prepared to go to court if necessary, to help you accomplish your goals.

Parents with Kids

I welcome inquiries about custody related to military divorce, and I assist parents in the post-decree modification of custody and assist with a variety of other family law issues.

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