Child Custody Disputes

One of the primary reasons why married couples who are considering divorce take pause is their concern for the children they have together. Divorce takes a toll on the entire family, and there is a huge emotional component to the broken family dynamic, but there are financial ramifications as well. Under current economic conditions most families with dependent children depend on two incomes to maintain their standard of living, so there is a lot to take into consideration.

If you do decide that you want to go forward with the divorce after carefully considering the impact it will have on the children, you will have to determine who will have custody. The matter of child custody is defined legally in Title 43, Sections 109 and 112 of the Oklahoma Statutes. The first thing that you will see if you reference this law is that the state’s objective is to proceed in a manner that lessens any emotional trauma that the children may potentially experience.

There are two different forms of child custody. There is the one that most people think about when they hear the term, which is the primary place of residence of the child. But there is also the matter of legal custody, and this involves the power to make decisions in behalf of the child. The types of decisions would be things like school choices, religious affiliation, medical decisions, and permission to engage in extracurricular activities.

The vast majority of divorcing parents can come to a voluntary agreement with regard to child custody. They recognize the impact that divorce has on the children and they want the transition to be as easy as possible. If the parents do have an honest disagreement and a child custody dispute arises, a third party mediator can sometimes steer the dispute toward resolution. But in cases when no concurrence is forthcoming it will indeed be up to the court to settle the child custody dispute.

If you need legal advice about child custody disputes, contact an Oklahoma City OK family attorney to arrange for a free consultation.