When a marriage ends in California, or anywhere around the country, there is often concern about how any children involved in the situation will be affected. Of course, parents want their children to continue to be healthy and happy, even if they have gone through a divorce. Traditionally, child custody decisions were made that found the children spending more time with one parent than the other, even in a joint custody situation. However, family experts now recommend truly shared parenting as a means of creating a more stable environment for the children.
Psychologists acknowledge that a shared custody arrangement would not be warranted if there were indicators of abuse or negligence. For many situations, however, it is believed that children would greatly benefit from spending roughly the same amount of time with each parent. In the past, many believed that children would experience stress if there as conflict between the two parents. Researchers contend that any conflict experienced between the ex-spouses should not be the deciding factor in determining custody.
Several studies on divorce that had been previously cited dealt with numerous issues. These addressed the differences in conflict co-parenting in a cooperating situation as well as looking at cases where custody disputes end in court. It was important to note that the study looked at children who spent a significant amount of time with each parent, rather than one of them the majority of the time. In a shared situation, both parents can work together as a team to co-parent.
Child custody issues can be very emotional for all the parties involved. It is important to work with a California divorce lawyer during every step of the divorce proceedings. A knowledgeable lawyer can help to protect a client’s rights through each step of the process and work to ensure the best possible outcome in a lawsuit.
Source: bostonherald.com, “Shared parenting improves divorce outcome for kids“, Gail Rosenblum, Sept. 10,2017
