What are some common arrangements for child visitation?
What are some common arrangements for child visitation?
Child visitation, often pursuant to a parenting plan, can take a variety of forms or schedules. Some common arrangements include some of the following provisions:
(1) Alternate weekend visitation with the non-custodial parent, including “three-day holidays”
(2) Mid-week visitation with the non-custodial parent
(3) Sharing of the child during periods of school recess -winter, spring and summer
(4) New Year’s Eve, Easter, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with one parent or the other in alternate years (click here for a useful article on holiday visitations)
(5) Mother’s Day with Mother, Father’s Day with Father
(6) Alternate years on the child’s birthday
(7) Open telephone contact by the parent who does not have actual physical custody of the child
(9) Exchange of a few days of visitation here and there as mutually agreed without the need for a change or modification of the court order
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We are a childless couple and have a chance to obtain an infant if we pay lots of money upfront. Is it legal?
Illegal Adoption Adoption Law
We are a childless couple and have a chance to obtain an infant if we pay lots of money upfront. Is it legal?
This is something you had better get good legal advice on from a lawyer who is not otherwise involved with the birth mother.
Having a short supply of healthy newborns ready to be placed for adoption, adopting parents are especially vulnerable to offers to buy a “black-market baby” – for an exorbitant sum of money. Paying large sums of money is unnecessary, since in most states adopting parents pay only the mother’s medical expenses, counseling and legal costs; if done improperly, it may be a crime and create an illegal placement.
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Categories: Family Law FAQ Tags: legal
Can a prenuptial agreement contain provisions on future children’s custody and support?
Can a prenuptial agreement contain provisions on future children’s custody and support?
Yes, but the court is not bound by such provisions. Courts have the power to decide on child custody, visitation rights, and child support, reasoning that parties cannot negotiate such issues particularly before the birth of a child.
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Is the natural father’s consent to the adoption necessary?
Fathers Consent Adoption Law
Is the natural father’s consent to the adoption necessary?
Yes, if the identity of the natural father is known. When the identity of the natural father is not known, a formal adoption can be finalized without his consent. However, this could affect whether or not the adoption is truly final, should the father’s identity later become discovered. In this situation a court would be called upon to make the decision, especially where the natural father discovers that he is the father and wants to assume parental rights along with the responsibilities.
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What is the difference between custodial parent and non-custodial parent?
What is the difference between custodial parent and non-custodial parent?
The custodial parent is the term that is used for the parent that has primary physical custody of a child. Typically the child resides with the custodial parent.
The term non-custodial parent is used for the parent that has the child for a lesser amount of time. Typically the child does not reside with the non-custodial parent except during the time that the non-custodial parent exercises his/her visitation right with the child.
Typically, the child is either with the custodial parent or the non-custodial parent but not both. This arrangement comes as a result of the separation of the parents and both parents maintaining separate residences. The child resides with the custodial parent most of the time and the non-custodial parent spends time with the child during periods of child visitation. This way, both parents get to spend time with the child despite having separate residences.
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Do biological grandparents have any rights after an adoption?
Grandparent Adoption Rights Adoption Law
Do biological grandparents have any rights after an adoption?
The biological parents’ parental rights are terminated when a child is adopted. However, some states are sympathetic to the plight of the biological grandparents and will grant them rights in limited situations, such as an adoption by a stepparent when a biological parent has died, or when the parents divorce.
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What are some common terms?
What are some common terms?
Legal Custody – the parent with legal custody can make all decisions regarding the health, welfare and education of the child.
Physical Custody – determines which parent has the actual, physical right to be with the child.
Sole Legal Custody – when one parent is awarded sole legal custody, that parent makes all decisions regarding the health, education and welfare of the child (and the other parent has no input on these decisions)
Sole Physical Custody – when one parent is given sole physical custody, the child remains with him/her and the other parent is excluded from having physical custody of the child (typically when the other parent has abused or neglected the child)
Joint Legal Custody – both parents participate in reaching decisions regarding the health, education and welfare of the child.
Joint Physical Custody – both parents have the ability to be with the child, typically joint physical custody is coupled with a parenting plan to determine who will be with the child at what particular time.
Shared Custody – both parents equally share the legal and physical custody of the child. Typically found only where both parents are able to resolve their personal differences and keep them in check for the sake of raising the child in a caring, nurturing environment.
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Categories: Family Law FAQ Tags: legal
What happens to the adoption records?
Adoption Records Adoption Law
What happens to the adoption records?
Once a formal adoption has been finalized, the records of the adoption become sealed to maintain anonymity of the natural and adoptive parents. Access is only by court order and is carefully restricted. Many states are relaxing procedures for opening records for “good cause”, say, for example, obtaining medical data.
Some states now allow adults, who were adopted during their minority, to request that the natural parents be contacted by a third party, in order to determine whether they would consent to allow their natural child to re-establish contact (this is called mutual consent between the child and the natural parent before opening the record to the child).
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What is child custody?
What is child custody?
Child custody is a term that refers to the bundle of rights and responsibilities that a parent carries with respect to his/her child. Child custody includes numerous concepts, some of which overlap and some that are distinct. The term child custody can be further broken down into terms that shed additional light and provide a greater understanding of the respective parents rights and obligations with respect to their common child.
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Does a foreign-born child adopted by a u.s. citizen automatically become a us citizen?
Adoption Foreign Us Citizen Adoption Law
Does a foreign-born child adopted by a u.s. citizen automatically become a us citizen?
Yes, under the Child Citizenship Act, effective February 21, 2001. Most foreign-born children automatically become a US citizen on the date they immigrate to the U.S. In the past, the adopted child held the citizenship of the foreign country where he or she was born until the child’s application for citizenship was approved by the INS.
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