The Judge is given the power to decide with whom the children live; who makes the decisions for the children, and how much access the children will have with each parent.

To have the judge rule in your favor, your attorney will try to paint a bad picture of your co-parent and a great picture of you.   Your co-parent’s attorney will do the same.

The judge has two assertions, documents, declarations each saying bad things about the other.

In order to not bear all the burden of this difficult decision, the judge will probably either order custody evaluation or minor’s counsel depending on the age of the children.

A custody evaluation is done by a mental health professional who will interview all relevant parties and conduct tests and questionnaires, and after approximately $10,000 in expenses and after several months, provide an opinion to the Court.  Most of the Custody evaluations have something negative to say about each parent but will have a decision favoring one parent.

Minor’s counsel is an attorney who will be hired to represent the children.  The minor’s counsel will interview the children.  The children are children, and having to deal with choosing between parents may not be mature or wise enough to really evaluate what is best for them.

Either way, the judge will most likely listen to the report of the professional assigned to address the custody issues.

No matter which way, when you give your problem to the Court to solve, you are gambling the extent of your parentage of your children and after going through lengthy expensive litigation, you both would be too bitter and stressed to be the great parents you could be, nevermind about being good co-parents.

For the sake of your children as well as yourself, it is best to resolve disagreements about the children through an agreed parenting plan with the assistance of Collaborative professionals.

Questions?  Give us a call to discuss better options for you: (818) 991-0519