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 last factor on our list of factors is:
"(l) Any other factor considered by the court to be relevant to a particular child custody dispute."
This is the "blank check" that the legislature gave to the trial judges. As you can see, the courts really do take a very thorough look at the child's circumstances when the court looks at "the best interest of the child". This factor, this blank check, is a recognition that there just MIGHT be something that's important, something not listed in the statute, that might be important for the judge to consider. This is that factor. It's a little hard to understand, without an example, so here's an example:
"Well judge, there is another circumstance that the court ought to consider, and that is that the mother is a Moonie, a member of a cult, and she is given to going off for so-called "retreats" for weeks at a time, and she told my client, the father, that she was going to be taking the child with her."
Where does this circumstance, or claimed circumstance, fit into the regular, garden-variety examination of the "best interest of the child"? How would this circumstance fit into one of the other factors? It wouldn't. But it IS something the judge will look at, and this last factor gives the judge the authority, the duty, to look at such a circumstance. Most of the other circumstances of the child's life are covered in the other factors, aren't they? But the lawmakers can't think of literally EVERYTHING, so this factor, this "well, if we left something important off of the list, we still want the judge to consider it..." was thrown into the list.
Please note that this is only ONE factor: if it turns out to be true that Mom is a Moonie, that does not, in and of itself, mean that Dad will win custody. No indeed. It means that Dad is likely to win this factor, but what about the other eleven factors? How are those factors scored? If the score, at the end of the trial, is Mom 7, Dad 5, Mom gets custody, doesn't she? And she should, because she has prevailed on more factors than Dad has, and she is the BETTER parent of the two, even if she is a Moonie.
Discuss with your lawyer whether or not a particular circumstance or fact is important, and where, in the list of factors, that circumstance might fit in. If it doesn't fit anywhere else, it will fit this "catch-all" factor.
Well, that's it. That's the list, the entire 12 factors that make up "best interest of the child". In the next chapter, we'll be looking at an overview of what this all means. If you've read this far, I know that you're buried near the end of a page, in a middle chapter, of a long subject matter: I'd like to say "Thank you". I appreciate having questions from you, because if you have read this far, you have a basic understanding of the process, and, more importantly, you have done the work to acquire that understanding, namely reading these chapters. Yes, it's a lot of work putting all this material up on the web. Yes, it can be a lot of work for you, just doing all the reading. But I don't like answering dumb questions, from people who are too damn lazy to take advantage of a free resource which I have spent hours and hours writing. Rather than read the material, they'll just ship over an email, which reads, more or less, "my ex just got arrested for drunk driving. Can I file for custody?" Now THAT IS A DUMB QUESTION. You just know, when that question comes in, that the writer has not read these pages. Since YOU have read these pages, YOU could answer that question, couldn't you? Only it's a long answer, isn't it? Oh, and by the way, do you really want to take the time, three or four times a week, to give that long answer to obviously lazy people, over and over again? That's what I was trying to avoid, when I started this project. Thank you for reading this far, and, when you email me a question, put MAYFLOWER in the subject heading of your email. That's right, mayflower, the boat the pilgrims came over on. That subject line will tell me, when I check my mail, that this is a question from someone who appreciates the work I did, and who has done the work necessary to try and educate themselves about the process. You will get a prompt answer, a more full answer, than the other type of emailer. It's my way of saying 'thank you' for doing the work that I know, forty chapters later, you have done. I don't mind taking questions from folks like you. It's a pleasure. I hope I can help.
Good luck with it.