Calgary Alberta Child Custody Lawyers help Calgary family law clients resolve disagreements over what is in the best interests of their children post separation. Often, Calgary family law clients have a different view of what is in the best interests of their children. Our top rated* Calgary Alberta Child Custody Lawyers help Calgary family law clients come to a child focused solution. Call Peter Graburn our senior Calgary managing associate at 403-444-5503 early on to prevent undue stress on you and your children.
Calgary Alberta Child Custody Lawyers 403-444-5503
“Custody in a Nutshell” – Parenting vs. Custody:
Understanding the custody and parenting of children after a couple in Alberta separate is often confusing, partly because of the use of different terms depending on whether the couple were married or not. Our Calgary Alberta Child Custody Lawyers do this on a daily basis to help parents and their children be post separation winners. Minimizing conflict with a cooperative plan is the gold standard our Calgary Alberta Child Custody Lawyers strive for. We work with psychologists to help make both parents and their children winners after separation.
Child Custody is not just about which parent the children will live with – it is also about who makes decisions regarding the children, such as:
- the day to day decisions affecting the child (including the child’s activities, household chores, and discipline, etc.);
- the child’s primary place (and change) of residence;
- the child’s education and participation in extracurricular school activities;
- the child’s cultural, linguistic, religious and the spiritual upbringing and heritage;
- who the child can associate with (friends);
- whether the child will work, the type of work, for who and how much;
- medical, dental and other health related treatment for the child;
- granting consents on behalf of the child;
- responding to notices on behalf of the child;
- dealing with court proceedings on behalf of the child;
- receiving any health, education or other information affecting the child.
Calgary Alberta Child Custody Lawyers
Most parents retain joint decision-making of their children after separation, but sometimes a parent is awarded sole decision-making if the other parent is shown they cannot make good decisions regarding the children. However, custody can also be about with which parent, or parents, the children live. There are many different sorts of living arrangements for children of separated couples, including:
- Shared Custody – each parent has the children about half the time;
- Split custody – one parent has one or more of the children most of the time, while the other parent has the other children most of the time;
- Divided custody – the children live with each parent for part of the year or alternating years, etc.
Calgary judges are more alive than to the benefits of shared parenting but depending on what court you start proceedings in there can be a huge difference in approach to the maximum contact principle. MacLean Law, founder, Lorne MacLean, QC helped set the law on maximum contact as winning counsel in the leading SCC case of Young V. Young where Mr. MacLean obtained 100 % of the family home, sole child custody for his client and special costs against the husband. Speak to one of our top rated* Calgary Alberta Child Custody Lawyers to understand this point as it relates to you and your children.
Calgary Alberta Child Custody Lawyers Maximum Contact
If separated parents cannot agree where the children will live, a Judge will make that decision for the parents based on some well-established principles, including:
- that a child should have as much contact with each parent as possible;
- that a child should have short, frequent contact with each parent (similar to when the parents lived together);
- whether a parent tried to have the child spend as much time with the other parent as possible, and:
- what is in the best interest of the child (the bottom-line test).
Accordingly, some factors a Judge may take into consideration in determining custody and residence of a child include:
- the age of the child (ie. still breast-feeding);
- the ability and experience of each parent to care for the children;
- whether the parent smokes, drinks alcohol, or uses non-prescription drugs, to excess;
- whether a parent has exercised court ordered parenting time with the child in the past, or not.
Understanding custody and parenting of children is often confusing. Our skilled and experienced Calgary Alberta Child Custody lawyers can explain to you the different forms of custody and parenting time options open to separating parents, and assist them in getting the type of custody and parenting arrangement that is in the best interest of the children if the matter has to be decided by a Judge.
