Making Decisions In The Best Interests Of Your Children

Posted on February 27, 2013 by About The Children LLC — 2 Comments

What are determining factors Judges Use To Make Decisions?

The judge is always going to make a ruling that is in the child’s best interests. As such, the argument you bring to the court room regarding why you’re seeking custody of your child is important. If your petition does not appear to be in the child’s best interests, then the judge will make a decision that is. So what can you do to ensure that your request will be granted? There are lots of factors to keep in mind when constructing an argument to go to court with. Here are a few things to keep in mind when going about this.

Lifestyle. In situations like this, a third party is going to be examining the way you live. If you’re requesting full custody of a child, meaning the child will reside primarily with you, and you live in a place that might not foster the best environment for that child, strangers in and out of the house a lot, small living conditions compared to the other parent, people sleeping on the floor etc, then your request for full custody has a greater chance of being denied. Make a reasonable request that reflects your own life and how you can provide for your child.
Health. In some cases a parent or grandparent will ask the court for full custody and not be in the best of health. If you are petitioning for custody of a smaller child, your health is definitely a factor in the judge’s decision. If you are in a wheel chair or need to be hooked up to oxygen machines, full custody might not be the best option to go for. Sometimes people feel like they don’t have a choice in what to ask for depending on what environment the child is already in but the judge won’t grant custody of an active five year old to an older parent or grandparent in a wheelchair, unless there are other people around to help or other factors such as this.
Preference of the Child. Some states put more emphasis on this than others. Once a child reaches a certain age, they can choose for themselves or at least vocalize their request to the judge about where they want to live. If their father is seeking custody and they tell the judge that they don’t want to live with their father, the judge may or may not take that into account. Check your state’s statutes on if the court will listen to your child’s preference and what age they need to be.

The bottom line is that the judge will place the child wherever they will get the most out of their environment. The job of any parent is to ensure that their kids go on to be more than they are. This means that the children you create, should surpass you and go on to create better people and so on and so forth. That being said, the environment they are placed in greatly influences this coming to fruition. Environments with high stress, poor academic conditions or unhealthy living conditions will not allow them to grow and learn and become more than the people who gave birth to them. Make sure your request reflects their best interests even if this is contrary to what you want personally.

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