Providing Stability and Security: Empathetic Child Custody Lawyers Serving San Rafael, CA
The experienced San Rafael child custody attorneys at Schoenberg Family Law Group, P.C., offer comprehensive legal advice and expert representation for clients navigating child custody disputes.
Our team understands that custody matters are among the most emotionally charged and logistically complex aspects of your divorce. We also know that the way these issues are resolved can have a profound effect on your child’s well-being, short and long-term. With decades of experience, focused exclusively on family law, our knowledgeable attorneys help clients understand California child custody laws and minimize conflict. We protect your children while fighting fiercely for your parental rights.
Our firm represents parents in all areas related to child custody, including divorce, paternity, legal separation, child custody modifications, and relocation. Our goal is to mitigate the challenges and frustrations of child custody by providing clear information and answers to your most pressing questions. We excel at devising creative and practical solutions to complex custody and visitation problems. Schedule a private consultation today.
Why Partner with Us?
Divorce is difficult, and custody disputes are highly sensitive, but a skilled and caring attorney can help alleviate the stress of the child custody legal process. Our attorneys provide personalized attention, prioritize your children’s welfare, and tailor legal strategies to your family’s unique needs. Led by Certified Family Law Specialist Debra R. Schoenberg, our firm builds strong cases and helps families move through difficult transitions.
The Importance of Legal Representation
Hiring a child custody attorney in San Rafael is crucial to your case. Self-representation can lead to costly mistakes. Our attorneys provide peace of mind, strategic solutions, and expert navigation of California’s child custody laws. We handle mediation and trial representation, allowing you to focus on your family.
Determining Child Custody in San Rafael: A Child-Centered Approach
Parents are encouraged to collaborate on creating mutually satisfactory and sustainable custody agreements, subject to judicial approval. When agreement is impossible, mediation is required. If mediation fails, a judge will make custody decisions based on the child’s best interests.
California law requires judges to prioritize the child’s health, safety, and welfare. Except in rare cases, the best interests standard means ensuring frequent contact with both parents.
The judge will consider factors such as parental ability and co-parenting skills, the child’s age, health, emotional ties to parents, and connection to school and community. The court also considers who can provide the most stability, and factors in any history of violence, substance abuse, serious mental illness, and so forth. The child’s preference may also be considered if mature enough, typically over 14 years old.
The “Best Interests of the Child” Standard: A Guiding Principle
This standard, found in California Family Code sections 3011, 3020, and 3040, prioritizes the child’s physical, mental, emotional, and psychosocial well-being. Judges consider each parent’s ability to meet the child’s needs.
Psychological Evaluations: Assessing Parental Fitness
Evaluations may be ordered to assess a parent’s mental health and ability to care for a child.
Legal and Physical Custody: Defining Parental Roles
California law recognizes two distinct types of custody. Legal custody refers to decision-making authority regarding the child’s health, education, and welfare. Physical custody determines the child’s residence (with whom they live).
Courts may grant either or both types of custody to one or both parents.
Joint vs. Sole Custody: Tailoring Arrangements to Fit the Child
Joint custody means custody is shared between both parents, with time division based on circumstances. Sole custody grants primary custodial rights to one parent, with visitation for the other. Arrangements are tailored to the child’s needs.
Visitation Orders and Rights: Maintaining Parent-Child Bonds
Visitation allows the noncustodial parent to maintain an ongoing relationship with the child. There are many types of visitation arrangements, including scheduled, reasonable, and supervised, depending on the child’s best interests. In rare cases, when the child’s safety is at risk, the court may order no visitation, Factors like criminal history, domestic violence, and substance abuse can affect visitation rights. Grandparents may also qualify for visitation.
Developing a Parenting Plan: Ensuring Clarity and Stability
Parenting plans detail parental rights and responsibilities, addressing legal and physical custody. Ideally, parents work together, with their attorneys, to create a custody arrangement that is right for their family. Once parents reach a written agreement, it requires judicial approval. With the court’s approval, plans can be revised as children mature, considering their changing needs and preferences.
Custody Mediation: Facilitating Agreement and Reducing Conflict
When parents cannot agree, the court requires mediation. Mediation can help parents create a parenting plan, avoiding a court battle. Mediators facilitate compromise, but cannot force agreement. If mediation is successful, the court will approve the agreement. If the dispute is not resolved through mediation, a judge will make custody decisions based on the best interests standard.
Partner with Our San Rafael Child Custody Attorneys
Schoenberg Family Law Group, P.C., provides comprehensive representation, ensuring you feel prepared, informed, and confident throughout your custody case. We are aggressive advocates and compassionate advisers, dedicated to exceeding our clients’ expectations. Complete the form below to schedule a consultation to learn more.
