Indiana Child Custody and Parenting Time
At the Law Offices of Tony Zirkle, we can advise you of your rights to joint legal custody, primary physical custody, and regular parenting time with your child in a divorce case, a dispute between unmarried parents, or even if you are a grandparent who would like to protect your ability to see a grandchild on a regular basis.
We can help you establish your right of access to your children, modify your arrangements due to changed circumstances, or enforce your rights in court if the other parent is interfering with your rights. For specific information about your options in your particular situation, contact Indiana child custody lawyer Tony Zirkle in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend, or Crown Point.
Child Custody - An Overview
The child custody and visitation landscape has changed. There is a decades' worth of research on the impact of divorce on families to guide divorcing parents. At the same time, these couples face increased pressures from society and the courts to work together to solve custody issues during a time when they are at their deepest emotional distance.
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Creating Co-Parenting Plans that Work
Whatever disadvantages there may be to sitting down with your soon-to-be ex-spouse to work out a parenting plan there is one undeniable truth to keep you at the table: You two are the only people who truly know your children, their needs, the demands of all of your schedules and the relative strengths and weaknesses of each parent. By working together to make a plan that fits both your lives, you avoid a court's cookie-cutter solutions. Hopefully, you also create a new framework for the active participation by each of you in the care and raising of your children. Remember, statistics show that parents who prepare a plan jointly are 80% more likely to comply with it than if a plan is imposed upon them by a third party.
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Divorce Education
Each year, more than one million children see their families changed through divorce. Years of research has shown that the ongoing health and mental well being of these children often depends upon whether or not their parents are able to work together following the end of their marriage. In the past, a majority of parents failed to meet the challenges of raising children after divorce and both the children and society suffered. Researchers found that when parents stop communicating after a divorce, their children are more likely to have academic, psychological, self-esteem, and social problems.
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Custody & Visitation Dos and Don'ts
The one thing divorce doesn't change is your status as your child's parent. Whether you have a traditional visitation schedule or a flexible co-parenting plan, or whether your plan is temporary or permanent, you can make the time spent with your children as happy and productive as possible.
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Custody Evaluations: What You Should Know
If you and your children's other parent have been unable to reach an agreement regarding your children's custody status after the divorce, the family court judge deciding your case will probably order a custody evaluation. A custody evaluation is a process in which a mental health professional, usually a psychologist, evaluates you, your children and your ex-spouse in order to make a custody and visitation recommendation to the court deciding your case. Courts tend to give the recommendations the evaluator makes considerable weight in reaching the court's final determination.
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