California Child Custody Law

Like most states, the standard for child custody determinations in California is the overall best interest of the child with an emphasis on assuring the "health, safety, and welfare" of the child and "frequent and continuing contact" with both parents absent child abuse, domestic violence, or where the contact would not be in the best interest of the child as provided in the California family code section 3011 (See California Family Code Section 3011, 3020, 3040, 3080). Further, according to California family code section 3040, child custody should be granted in an order of preference and according to the best interest of the child.



A common challenge for the court is to decide who will get custody of the child. Child custody may be petitioned by parents, grandparents, stepparents, or any person who believes they can provide suitable care and guidance to the child. So how does the California family court or a California judge handle competing persons seeking custody of the child? According to California family code section 3040, child custody should be granted in an order of preference and according to the best interest of the child. The court looks first to grant custody to both parents jointly or to either parent before looking to grant custody to other persons. California however does not currently establish a preference or a presumption for or against joint custody arrangements. Instead, it allows the California family court or California judge to make the parenting arrangement decision on a case-by-case basis according to what it believes reflects the overall best interest of the child. If neither parent is granted custody, then the court may look towards the person's home in which the child has been living and the stability of that environment and then to any person deemed by the court to be able to provide appropriate care for the child. In short, the court will typically look to grant child custody first to the parents according the best interest of the child and if they are deemed unfit the court will then look to grant child custody to other persons according to the best interest of the child.



If you are involved in a child custody battle with the other parent, grandparent, stepparent, or any other person, you would be wise to consult a California family law attorney to help you learn where you stand legally and what your legal options are with respect to your child custody rights and visitation rights.



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Child Custody Coach supplies information, online materials, and coaching services to parents in the field of child custody, namely, divorce, child custody and visitation, child custody evaluations, 730 evaluations, parenting, and all issues related to child custody and divorce. "How to Win Child Custody - Proven Strategies that can Win You Custody and Save You Thousands in Attorney Cost!" is a unique child custody strategy guide written by The Custody Coach and made available by Child Custody Coach in an easy to read, understand, and apply E-Book format. Custody Match is an online consumer and family law attorney matching service to help you in your search for the right attorney for your divorce or child custody case. Custody Match can help you find the right family law attorney, divorce lawyer, or child custody attorney in your area.

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Evolving Georgia Child Custody Laws

Determining the custody of your children in the state of Georgia just became a little more cumbersome for divorcing parents. As of January 2008, children age 14 or older of divorcing parents can no longer determine which parent they want to live with. In further attempt by the court to foster a cooperative relationship between the parents after divorce, it is now mandated by Georgia state divorce law that parents of minor children in every divorce case must submit a detailed parenting plan to the Georgia family court for approval.

There are specific requirements to the content of the child custody parenting plan in Georgia which include which of the parents will retain physical custody of the child(ren), where the child(ren) will be every day during the year, how transportation will be handled including how the children will be exchanged between parents, where exchanges are to take place and which parent will pay for the cost of transportation. While many Georgia Family Law judges already required many of these stipulations be placed in a Settlement Agreement, this new procedures now make the process more uniform throughout the state. Additionally, by forcing a Settlement Agreement to contain so many specific requirements, proponents argue that there will be considerably less room for future dispute as to agreements being unclear or vague.

In line with these changes, also required in the parenting plan are how major decisions about the child's religion, health, extracurricular activities, education, and emergencies will be made along with how disagreements pertaining to these decisions should be resolved, as well as what limits each parent will have to information regarding the child's school and medical records. The parenting plan also mandates whether a parent's visitation with the child is to be unsupervised - if supervised, the details of supervision must be included in the plan to satisfy the Georgia child custody mediator during the divorce. The plan must also include specifics regarding limits of access to the children by phone or otherwise by one parent during the other parents time with the children.

Another notable change that went into effect as of January 1st that will affect parents filing for divorce in Georgia is that the judge is now allowed to award attorney's fees to one parent or the other. In most cases, this issue does not come up, but the legislation is designed to prevent a wealthy parent from using repeated stall tactics to lengthen the legal process. It is obviously in the best interest of both parties to retain attorneys in Georgia who are well versed in the application of the new Georgia state laws regarding child custody.

If unable to retain a divorce attorney through a personal referral from a friend or relative, an advocacy website is a fine place to begin your search. Finding a divorce attorney who is on your side is important and can be done with a little research or a referral.

Rhonda Conners is a national recognized author and lecturer on family law. Based in Marietta, Georgia, she routinely counsels Marietta divorce attorneys on the Georgia law process.