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Child Custody Lawyer Hampton Roads

Home/Child Custody Lawyer Hampton Roads

When children are concerned, the issue is major, and child custody is one such matter. Child custody concerns are frequently associated with divorce, but child custody issues also arise for unmarried couples who share children. Additionally, the need for post-divorce child custody modifications is common. If you have a child custody concern, don’t put off discussing the matter with an experienced child custody lawyer in Hampton Roads. 

Legal Custody

In Virginia, child custody is broken down into legal custody and physical custody, and it’s important to consider both. Legal custody refers to how you and your children’s other parent will address primary parenting decisions, such as those related to the following:

  • Where your children attend school
  • Where your children live
  • The extracurriculars and travel your children participate in
  • The healthcare your children receive
  • The religious education your children receive

Legal custody can be awarded in any of the following ways:

  • You and your ex can make each decision together.
  • You and your ex can make each decision together, but one of you is granted the ability to break any ties that arise (and that can’t be resolved via continued negotiations). 
  • You and your ex can divide the decision-making between you according to the kind of decision that needs to be made.
  • One of you can take on sole legal custody.  

The parent who is responsible for the children at the time that workaday parenting decisions pop up is tasked with making them, and the parent who is most readily available if an emergency decision needs to be made is on call to do so. 

Physical Custody

Physical custody determines when your kids will be with you under your roof and when they will be with their other parent. The basic options include:

  • Splitting your time with your shared children in what amounts to an equal or nearly equal division 
  • Making one of you the primary custodial parent while the other has a visitation schedule 

In order to avoid receiving one of the court’s standard parenting schedules, you and your children’s other parent will need to hammer out a mutually agreeable schedule between yourselves. 

Child Support

The matter of child support often accompanies child custody concerns. Child support payments are ordered to help ensure that parents continue to support their children financially and that the cost is balanced between both of them – in accordance with each parent’s ability to pay. This means that, even if you and your ex divide your parenting time evenly, the one who earns more is likely to pay child support to the other. 

Reach Out to an Experienced Child Custody Lawyer in Hampton Roads Today

If you have concerns related to protecting your rights as a parent, the accomplished child custody lawyers at Mahoney Richmond Thurston, PLLC, in Hampton Roads, Virginia, are on your side and here to help. To learn more about what we can do for you, please don’t delay contacting us today.