Child Custody And Divorce: Free Legal Advice
Child Custody And Divorce: Free Legal Advice
Child Custody And Divorce: Free Legal Advice
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The newest factor to be examined, by the judge in a custody case, was added to the law just a few years ago, and it's this one:
(k) Domestic Violence, regardless of whether the violence was directed against, or witnessed by the child.
This sentence isn't as simple as it seems, because "domestic violence" can mean striking, the actual hitting, or can (in several states, including Michigan) also include threatening domestic violence, such as "I'm coming over there, and I'm going to kick your ass." That statement, my friend, makes you guilty of domestic violence, and you may even find yourself charged with a crime, a misdemeanor, and subject to jail, fines, probation, and several weeks of rehabilitation classes. And if you don't actually go to the classes, like the judge ordered you to, why then, you will find yourself a resident at the "crossbar hotel", the county jail, where, sure enough, the classes are offered at no charge, to people who are just too damn dumb to get the message: domestic violence is now, officially, as the public policy of the state, a great big "no-no".
Persons guilty of domestic violence may be of either gender, but tend to be predominately male. Don't start with that hate mail: I haven't picked a percentage, and I won't. So you males don't need to write in "but there are more female perpetrators than you think there are!" and you females don't need to write in "but it's almost always the man!" Both statements are correct.
I don't want you people to miss the point: make sure it's not YOU. There is absolutely no justification, nowadays, to be hitting people. Society has decided, finally, that it will no longer be tolerated. At an absolute MINIMUM, society has decided that if you are liable to do something like that, you are basically incompetent to raise a child: you will lose on this factor, and perhaps the whole case. I know that this factor is only one out of the twelve, however, it's one of the easiest to prove, isn't it? "Let me see that police report, counsel, and let me see those pictures, I've got a few questions to ask this witness...."
Note that the violence doesn't have to be directed against, nor witnessed by, the child: it's enough, to disqualify you as a parent, that the violence occurred. See that it doesn't.
Good luck with it.