If you've always had a verbal custody agreement with the other parent of your child and the two of you have never had any arrangement legalized, you want to meet with a lawyer. You don't want to wait until there is a crisis to find out the two of you aren't on the same page, and it's best to have legally defined guidelines, responsibilities and schedules.
There can be a lot of conflict when raising a child and a lawyer can help make things easier when problems arise. Through mediation, you can create a shared parenting agreement without entering a courtroom. Here are a few things you may want to mediate with the other parent:
Medical Emergencies
If there is a medical emergency and important decisions have to be made, you don't want to fight with the other parent about what to do. Having medical custody and being able to make the medical decisions that could be needed for your child can give you peace of mind.
If you feel like the other parent in incapable of making these types of decisions, or that have the child a majority of the time anyways, your lawyer can include this in the document.
Educational Needs
There could come a time when your child needs more educational attention or is having a problem with academic development, or you may want to switch schools. If you have the decision making power to get your child tutoring or extra attention, or to put them in specialized classes, you can get things done quickly.
Scheduling
If the schedule you have worked out with the other parent isn't really working, and they constantly interfere with plans, don't show up, or cause issues with your child's activities, work out a schedule. Plan what specific days they are going to take the child, what holiday schedules are going to be like and more, so you can eliminate the hassles and confusion. You can enforce that the child doesn't miss practices, games, club meetings and other things that they are involved, regardless of what the other parent wants to do.
You don't want to find yourself arguing with the other parent when your child needs you, and getting control and becoming the decision making parent is one of the best options for you. Talk with a family lawyer to look over a basic joint parenting agreement, and make adjustments to accommodate your wants and needs.
If you have other questions, contact a company like The Heritage Law Group to learn more.
Share25 November 2014
