Child Custody & Visitation
The Petition for Custody and Support of Minor Children may be filed by parents who:
- Have signed a Voluntary Declaration of Paternity, or
- Are married and don’t want to get legally separated or divorced, or
- Are not married and have legally adopted a child together, or
- Have been determined to be the parents in a juvenile or Department of Child Support case.
In order to get a child custody/visitation order, one of the divorce or paternity actions described above, or a domestic violence restraining order, must be filed. If the parents don't agree on custody/visitation. A court date needs to be set and the parties need to attend mediation. Mediation is provided by Family Court Services. The mediators work with the parents. If the parents cannot make an agreement after mediation, the mediator makes recommendations to the court that are generally adopted and made into orders by the judge.
To get this process started, you must file one of two documents:
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Order To Show Cause: These are the forms to use if you are just starting your case. The other party must be personally served with these documents.
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Notice of Motion: These are the papers to file if a case has already been opened and the other party has already been served with the paperwork to begin you case.
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Restraining orders: Domestic Violence Restraining Orders have their own paperwork DV-105 and DV-220 you must attach these forms if you wish to have custody and visitation determined as part of your restraining order.
Some of the terms used in custody cases are:
- Sole legal custody: One parent makes all of the decisions regarding the health, education and welfare of the children.
- Joint legal custody: Both parents makes decisions regarding the health, education and welfare of the children.
- Sole physical custody: One parent has parenting time with the children.
- Primary Physical custody: Both parents have time with the children, but one parent is the primary caregiver.
- Joint legal custody: Both parents share roughly equal parenting time with the children.
Visitation is the schedule for sharing time with the children. It can range from no visitation to week-on/ week-off sharing of the children between parents. It is up to the parents, and in the absence of an agreement, the mediator and judge, to determine what will work best. Family Court Services has some very valuable information on the process, as well as on child development, co-parenting and community resources. We highly recommend that anyone with minor children take a look at this site, even if a parenting plan has already been agreed upon.