As your marital relationship began to crumble, your priorities in life may have shifted. Where you once may have held your spouse and children as the most important aspects of your life, you may now only think of the well-being of your kids. Your mind might be reeling thinking about how you can go about achieving the custody outcome best for them.
If you feel that gaining sole custody of your kids would be in their best interests, you will likely have a difficult road ahead of you. Many courts are beginning to give more favorable judgments toward joint custody so that each parent has a more equal part in the kids’ lives. However, you may not feel that your children would benefit from such an arrangement. If so, you may need to prove that you are the better parent.
What is the better parent standard?
If you truly want sole custody of your kids, you will need to present evidence to the court that you meet the better parent standard. This standard is what the court considers when one parent wants to prevent the other parent from having custody. Essentially, you must give the court reason to believe that the children would be better off in your care alone than with equal time given to the other parent.
How can you meet this standard?
If you do want to attempt to prove that you are the better parent, you may want to take a proactive approach rather than a vengeful one. If you attempt to make yourself look better by pointing out the other parent’s faults or bashing his or her parenting abilities, those actions may not come across as beneficial in the courtroom.
Instead, you may want to go the extra mile to make yourself and your parenting abilities shine. You may do this by showing the court how you better manage the physical well-being of the children, such as by knowing their routines and after-school activities, and their psychological well-being, such as knowing what actions could help them thrive mentally and emotionally.
Would you consider joint custody?
In some cases, a parent may want to seek sole custody even if it does not really suit the circumstances. Therefore, you may want to consider whether this approach is necessary or if joint custody may be more in your children’s best interests.
Finding the right child custody arrangements can prove difficult, and you may want to ensure that you explore your available legal options.
