There’s not many issues in divorce that are more emotionally taxing than questions regarding children. It is natural to feel overwhelmed, uncertain, and concerned about what the future may hold. All of these feelings on top of navigating the well being and stability for your children is taxing.
At Alternative Divorce Resolution, we believe that custody conflicts should be dealt with mindfully, compassionately, and with a priority on the families long-term well-being. Divorce is not the end of a family, even though it can change its framework. The way custody disputes are resolved can affect children and their parents for years to come.
Kim M. Ciesinski, Esq. has had the privilege of supporting families in Nassau County and Suffolk County with parenting and custody issues for more than thirty years. Instead than using adversarial litigation on all occasions, our office emphasizes amiable, child-focused solutions through mediation, COLLABORATIVE DIVORCE, and NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT.
What the court considers to be in the “best interests of the child” constitutes the foundation for custody decisions in New York. There is no one-size-fits-all custody agreement since every household, every family is unique. When establishing how to divide up parental responsibilities and parenting time, courts consider a variety of factors to consider.
The concept “legal custody” implies a parent’s authority to decide on significant parts of a child’s upbringing, such as general welfare, healthcare, education, and religion. In many households, parents continue to share mutual, legal custody and make important decisions together. Depending on the family dynamic and degree of parental collaboration, sole legal custody might be suitable in various situations.
Physical custody pertains to the child’s primary residence and a division of parenting time between the parents. While some families decide that one home should be the child’s primary residence with parenting time allotted to the other parent, others establish shared parenting schedules.
A thoughtfully planned parenting plan should be practical and attainable for both parents while promoting stability, consistency, and the child’s emotional needs.
A judge may finalize a decision on custody arrangements if parents are unable to come to an understanding. Courts take into account a variety of variables, such as:
Nevertheless, when families are already struggling, litigation often makes things harder. Children are frequently more affected by long-term parental conflict surrounding a divorce than by the divorce itself.
Because of this, many families find alternative dispute resolution techniques that put an emphasis on cooperation, communication, and long-term family wellbeing.
Instead of going to court, many custody disputes can be settled amicably and confidentially through mediation.
In mediation, parents collaborate with an impartial lawyer-mediator to create parenting plans and custody agreements that are tailored to their family’s particular needs. Parents continue to actively participate in determining their children’s future rather than having solutions imposed by a judge who is not familiar with the family dynamic.
Frequently, mediation enables families to:
Research consistently demonstrates that children gain considerably from less parental conflict both during and after divorce. Parents who work together to create parenting agreements are frequently more likely to uphold those agreements and sustain fruitful co-parenting relationships over time.
One of the best strategies to prevent future miscommunication and conflict is to have a well-written parenting plan. Plans for parenting should explicitly tackle the following issues:
The more comprehensive and thoughtful the parenting plan is, the more likely it is that parents will be able to avoid avoidable disagreements in the future.
At ALTERNATIVE DIVORCE Resolution, we collaborate closely with parents to create workable, kid-centered parenting strategies that promote long-term family stability.
Research consistently demonstrates that children gain considerably from less parental conflict both during and after divorce. Parents who work together to create parenting agreements are frequently more likely to uphold those agreements and sustain fruitful co-parenting relationships over time.
