A Family Lawyer's Guide To Child Care Myths

The mother automatically has the right to have the children with her When parent's separate, it is up to them to decide who the children will live with and how much time they will spend with the other parent. It is not necessary for the court to be involved, unless the parents cannot agree and ask the court to make the decision of their behalf. If a court does become involved, they will base their decision on what they believe are the best interests for the children; they also have a checklist of factors to measure against. Due to the change of today's society, parenting roles are evolving and in more and more cases, the father is taking on the greater role in the care for the children. In some cases, the child will live with the father after separation.

When deciding how much time the children will spend with each of their parents after separation, there is no standard agreement and arrangements may differ during holiday periods and term time, which normally evolve over time. Although, it is actually becoming more common for parents to share the care of the children 50/50.

The parent with custody of a child has greater rights No matter who a child lives with, each parent has the role in the decision making in the child's life. Provided both parents have parental responsibility, they both have an equal say in all of the important decisions, i.e. education, medical treatment, religion and property...