When couple divorce, conflicts dealing with children often cause stress and heated arguments. The emotional disruptions at home can cause sufferance to the children and will have lasting effect on them. The decision of adults to go their separate ways should impact as little as possible upon the child’s daily life.
To that, the courts grant rights to the parents that ensures the best arrangement for the child. Custody, Care & Control and Access refers to 3 different authorities given to the parents in a divorce.
The courts’ primary concern in granting the rights would be for the benefit for the child, which supersedes the preferences of the parents.
Custody refers to authority to make major decisions regarding the child, such as education, religion, healthcare matters etc.
The courts generally grant joint child custody to both parents, which means that both parents are equally responsible for the child. Although the marriage has ended, the parenthood is a life time commitment. The presence of both parents is crucial for the child’s wholesome development and a joint custody ensures that both parents can be equally involved in the child’s life.
Care & Control refers to the day-to-day decisions. The child would live with and care for by the parent with the care & control.
Access refers to visitation rights, where the parent without the care and control would be given time periods to spend time with the child.
Our role as your lawyer is to help you understand your realistic options when deciding how best to look after any children during divorce and in the long run. They will be able to help you come to an agreement if there are disagreements, and give detailed information on the rights of both parents.