Legal Question in Family Law in New York
Joint Custody
4 yr old child to non-married couple who separated when child was 1 yr; mother moved back to her family with child for 2 years; financial responsibilities shared at the time and father visits or picks-up child on weekends; when child was 3 yrs both mother and child could no longer live at same place; child moved in with father and mother was offered by father to rent other bedroom which she declined but sporadically stayed and slept in the house; mother eventually had to move in with another man who she married for immigration purposes while child lived with father; child lives with father for a year now; school expenses shared in half by both parents; mother does not want to have the child overnight at any time in the week or weekend due to her active social life; father now wants to make it legal and have joint custody of child. In NY, what is the right of a mother to have full custody of a child who is 4 yrs old? Given scenario above, what are his chances? Will lawyers' fee be exorbitant in this case? If father gets full custody, will the mother be forced to have the child for certain period of time in a month as visitation?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Joint Custody
The information you provided is unclear.
However, If you, the father, are currently caring for the child and the mother appears to be otherwise occupied, you probably have a good chance of having the court declare you the sole custodial parent.
The mother would then receive visitation and other rights (ie., contact, information, vacations, etc.,) and [could] be charged with support obligations. Although her obligations to support can be enforced, she CANNOT be made to exercise her rights.
The cost of a custody action varies and largely depends upon the nature of the parties involved.
The more the parties fight, argue and drag it out, the higher the costs, due the lawyer time and forensic resources that become necessary to the proceeding.
To save money, I would suggest attempting to reach an understanding with the child's mother before going to court for the Custody Order, which is necessary, for the stability of the child.
For example: if you don't need her financial contribution to care for your child, consider foregoing it, in exchange for something else,like continuing to split child care costs, clothing school etc., (women generally hate the idea of paying "court ordered child support", {because, among other reasons, notwithstanding the alleged gender neutral society we live in, the financial, economic, social and educational status of women is Not equal to men; and their vanity is such that they believe They always know what their child needs better than anyone else}); Agree to "joint" custody (there is still a substanial stigma to a mother losing custody of her children (whether she wants them with her or not) with primary residence with you; Agree to specific and liberal visitation {whatever that means to you} and so forth.
GOOD LUCK.
PHROSKA L. McALISTER, ESQ.
Re: Joint Custody
In New York, neither parent has a presumptive right to custody. The Court will attempt to determine which will provide for the child's "best interests." I need more facts to properly assess the situation, but if the father shows that he has been doing a good job caring for the child and the mother has not, and is not as stable as the father, then the father would have a good case. Unfortunately, lawyers fees are almost always "exhorbitant." Feel free to call me to discuss this further. I do not charge a fee for the initial consultation.
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