Custody & Visitation

Child custody and child visitation decisions are made to serve the best interests of
the child.

Child Custody

While it used to be that minor children were always placed with the mother except when she was proven incompetent or unfit, in today’s world fathers have an equal claim to custody of minor children. Some of the factors that will be considered when determining child custody include:

• Age & gender of the child
• Needs of the child
• Relationship of the child with each parent
• Home environment of each parent
• Each parent’s character, age, health, stability, capacity, and interest in meeting the needs of the child
• The preference of the child, depending on the child’s age and maturity level

Joint custody may be ordered, based on the presumption required by Alabama law that the child’s best interests include frequent and continuing contact with both parents. Joint legal custody means that decisions about the children are to be shared by both parents. These decisions include education, religion, and such. Joint physical custody means that the child will live with each parent part of the time – not necessarily an exact half-and-half split.

Factors that play into the custody decision, that help the judge to determine whether or not joint physical custody will be appropriate, include:

• the parents’ agreement on joint custody being the best arrangement
• the parents’ ability to cooperate with each other
• the parents’ ability and willingness to cultivate a positive relationship between the other parent and the child
• any history of inappropriate behavior of either parent
• the physical distance between the homes of the parents

When determining fitness of a parent, it is important to note that improper marital behavior that qualifies one as a bad spouse, does not necessarily make one an unfit parent. Adultery, for example, may be grounds for divorce, but does not necessarily affect custody.

Child Visitation

It is best if the parents can agree together on a schedule for visitation; however, if an agreement cannot be reached, the court will determine visitation for you. If the court-ordered visitation (whether based on a parental agreement or not) is not followed, the court may choose to alter visitation, based on the best interests of the child.