Family Code §3011 Legal Factors Affecting Sacramento Child Custody Orders

In every Sacramento child custody case, the court has a legal responsibility to consider the Family Code §3011 factors in rendering their custody and visitation orders. The Family Code §3011 factors the court must consider are as follows:

• The health, safety and welfare of the child
• The history of abuse by one parent or any other person seeking custody of the child.
• The nature and frequency of current contact between both parents and the child.
• The habitual/continual illegal use of controlled substances, the abuse of alcohol, and the habitual/continual abuse of legal drug prescriptions.

The Sacramento child custody court must find an arrangement that benefits the children’s safety and welfare after evaluating the §3011 factors. If one parent threatens the child’s health and safety, is abusive, or abuses alcohol or drugs, this will significantly negatively impact their child custody case. Concerning parental abuse, or substance abuse, the court has to find substantial independent corroboration of the abuse. The law requires substantial corroboration to prevent important child custody decisions from being made on mere self-serving (he said/she said) testimony. The court may consider police reports, court findings, CPS reports, and doctor reports as substantial independent corroboration. The Sacramento child custody court also heavily considers each parent’s involvement in the children’s lives up to the point the parties arrived in court. If you are involved in a Sacramento child custody case and you are facing custody mediation and wish to review how the Family Code §3011 factors will apply in your custody case, please give us a call today. Our experienced Sacramento family law attorneys can meet with you and discuss your legal rights.