Savannah GA Child Custody Attorney

There are many factors that the court considers when it comes to who will get custody of any minor children. The courts in Georgia don’t show favor over one parent or another. The judge will award custody based upon what they feel is in the best interest of the children.

Child Custody Basics

If you and your spouse cannot agree on custody of any minor children, your attorneys and the judge will work together to formulate a plan that is in the best interest of the children, not the parents.  Until the judge finalizes this plan, you and your spouse may share custody of the children.

If there are any minor children that are aged 14 or above, they generally are allowed to choose which parent they prefer to live with. Children under the age of 14 may talk to the judge and express their wishes, but the court will take other factors into consideration before deciding custody.

If you and your spouse cannot agree on which parent should have custody of the children and the terms of the custody, you and your spouse should each have your own attorney. In some cases, the judge may appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the child.

Physical and Legal Custody in Georgia

If the child resides with you, then you have physical custody, and the right and obligation to make every day decisions for your child.

If the court awarded you legal custody that means that you have the rights and obligation to make any long-term decisions for the child. For example, you have the right to decide what school and church your child attends, and what sports or other activities that child participates in. In other words, the parent with legal custody has the right to decide any significant aspects of that child’s life.

If the court awarded you sole custody, it means that you have both physical and legal custody of your child or children.

Split Custody

In a split custody agreement, two or more of the children are split up and each parent gets custody of one or more of any minor children. The judge may feel split custody is the proper plan after taking into account the children’s ages, gender, and the children’s preferences.

Joint Custody

In a joint custody agreement, both parents will share custody of any minor children. There are two types of joint custody; joint legal custody and joint physical custody.

Joint legal custody is when each parent has equal rights and responsibilities for all of the major decisions regarding the minor children.

Joint physical custody is when both parents have the same amount of time with the children, or at least 35 percent of the child’s time is spent with each parent.  Each case is different and the combination of joint physical and legal custody may be in the best interests of your child.

The court will require that you and your spouse come to some type of an agreement on how disputes will be resolved if you can’t agree or if one of you is unavailable when a decision must be made.

The judge will review any joint custody agreement very carefully to ensure that the best interests of the child are being met, and the child isn’t being used as a pawn by one of the parents to gain concessions in other areas of the divorce.

If you are receiving any form of government assistance such as AFDC or Medical Assistance, you should consult with your social worker before signing any final custody agreement.

If you are involved in a child custody case in the Savannah GA area, then call our Savannah Georgia law offices t speak with an experienced child custody lawyer or fill out the form at the right of this page.

The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act

The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act applies to every state in the United States. This act requires that any child custody case must be heard in the court that has jurisdiction over that child, or that the child is most closely associated with. This means that your child custody case should be heard in the county that child lives in, but if the child has moved within the past six months the court could say that the county the child previously lived in has jurisdiction over the child.

If the child has moved recently, the formulas to determine which court should hear that child’s custody case are complicated.  The court will look at where each parent resides, works, pays their taxes, votes, and where the child has most recently attended school.  The court may also consider where the child’s school and medical records are located. The court may also look at the reasons the child moved out of Georgia.

If a child has been abandoned or needs emergency protection because the court feels the child may be being abused or neglected, the court in Georgia will handle the case. If a court in another state has ruled that a court in Georgia has jurisdiction in the child custody matter, the court will hear it immediately.

Factors that Determine Custody

When formulating a joint physical and legal custody plan that will be in the best interests of your minor children, the judge will look at a number of different factors. Some of the most common factors are:

1.  Which parent is the primary caregiver. The primary caregiver to the children is the parent that dresses them, feeds them, bathes them, and cares for them the majority of the time.

2.  Fitness. The court will look at which parent has the physical and psychological ability to be the best parent for the children. If your spouse or you have abused your children  or any other children in the past, the judge may deem that parent to be unfit to have custody of the children.

3.  Employment. If one of the parents works long hours or travels a lot for their job, the judge will take that into consideration.

4.  Family relationships.  The judge will look at each parent’s willingness to have the children maintain relationships with other family members such as aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. If one parent is constantly being disruptive when the other parent has the minor children, the judge will look at that very closely.

5. The home of the parents. The judge will take into consideration the living arrangements and living conditions of each parent’s place of residence, and the neighborhood each parent resides in. This will help the judge make a decision as to which home and neighborhood is in the best interest of the children.

6.  The children’s ages, gender, and preferences. The judge may rule that because of a child’s age, gender, and health, that living with one parent over the other parent is in the best interest of the child. The judge could also consider the personal preference of the child when making their decision.  An older child’s preferences may be given more weight than a younger child’s preferences. In the eyes of the court, a younger child may be considered too immature to make that type of important decision.

7.  Previous child abandonment. If you or your spouse abandoned a child in the past, this will probably have a direct effect on the judge’s decision regarding joint legal and physical custody of the minor children.

Changing a Custody Order or Custody Modification

The court hears cases every day from parents who wish to change their custody orders. To have your child custody order changed, you must be able to show the court that there is a legitimate reason to do so.  You need to show that something in the other parent’s home environment is having a negative impact on your child that wasn’t there when the original custody order was written.

If a child is 16 years or older, they may petition the court on their own for a change in custody, but must also show the court that the change would be in their own best interest.

The court that issued the original child custody agreement has jurisdiction over any changes that are requested to that agreement. Sometimes the case can be moved to a different court if the child has moved to another court’s jurisdiction. However, if that child was moved in direct violation of a court order, the court could issue an order that the child be brought back into their jurisdiction.

Custody and Taxes

If you have custody of your minor child or children you can claim them as dependents on your income tax. Sometimes the parents will decide to share claiming the children as dependents in alternating years. If you want to do that, you will have to fill out a Form 8322 called a Release of Claim to Exemption and file it with the IRS.  You cannot deduct child support payments from your income tax.