When you’re in the middle of a divorce or a custody battle, you know you need to fight with everything you have to protect your child. And sometimes your kid’s physical and psychological safety and wellbeing is on the line, making the stakes even higher.
The best interests of the child standard that’ll be deployed by the court in your custody case is very broad. While that gives you a lot of room to work with as you develop your child custody arguments, it can also make it hard to target your approach without getting tangled in the weeds. After all, it might be easy to attack the other parent and their past shortcomings, which could cause you to lose focus on your child’s best interests.
So, how do you go about crafting your child custody arguments and where do you find evidence to support your legal position in these matters? Let’s look at some tips that might get you started down the path toward a successful child custody argument.
Where can you find evidence to support your child custody argument?
The theory in your child custody case is going to depend on the facts and issues in play. Therefore, as you set out to build your child custody case, consider the following to see if you can find evidence of them to support your legal arguments:
- Abuse or neglect: If the other parent is physically, verbally, emotionally, or psychologically abusing or neglecting your child, then you’ll have strong arguments for whatever custody arrangement you want. Gather protective services records, police reports, and expert opinions to help you speak to the abuse or neglect that’s occurring and the damage that it’s causing to your child.
- Domestic violence: A child’s exposure to domestic violence can cause significant harm. These children can be at risk of injury when they try to intervene in episodes of domestic violence, and they can develop their own aggressive behaviors. These children often develop mental health issues, too, such as anxiety, depression, and excessive worry. You might find evidence here by searching for police reports and criminal records, as well as by talking to your child about what they’ve witnessed in the other parent’s home.
- Substance abuse: Children who are exposed to parental substance abuse can develop a number of issues: They might self-isolate out of shame, develop anxiety and depression over the uncertainties at home, be at an increased risk of abuse or neglect, and be forced to take on parental responsibilities when their parent is too intoxicated to fulfill the parental role. Your child is probably going to be your best source of evidence here, but there may be arrest and other criminal records that are helpful, too. You should also look for other witnesses who can attest to your child’s exposure to parental substance abuse.
- Lack of cooperation: Although the issues mentioned above are severe in nature, even something as simple as lack of coparenting cooperation can be enough to turn a custody case in your favor. The court will want each parent to help facilitate a relationship between the child and the other parent, so when that doesn’t happen, the court may be concerned about the risk of parental alienation. So, be sure to document interactions with the other parent so that you can show how difficult they’ve been in navigating coparenting challenges.
There are, of course, other places to look for evidence. Your child’s therapist might have a strong opinion on the matter, you can request a child custody evaluation, and you might want to look at each parent’s financial positioning and ability to meet your child’s unique needs. So, be thorough in your search for evidence.
Fight to protect your child
To protect your child’s wellbeing, you need convincing evidence, a well thought out custody plan, and persuasive legal arguments. And now is the time to get to work gathering all of those components. Be aggressive and thorough as you do so, as anything less could lead to an outcome that’s contrary to your child’s best interests.