The Placer County child custody court has one important consideration in making child custody orders between competing parents: the best interest of the children. Simply put, the Placer County court looks for the custody arrangement will maximize the children’s health, safety and welfare. The Placer County court will review the relevant evidence and rely heavily upon the child custody mediator’s report in determining the custody arrangement that maximizes the children’s health, safety, and welfare.
The Placer County court considers such things as which parent will facilitate a workable relationship with the other parent and willingly resolves conflict in a way that places the children’s needs over that parent’s needs. The Placer County court considers whether one or both parents are willingly facilitating an ongoing relationship between the children and the other parent’s extended family. Courts are not pleased when high-conflict parents demoralize their children by turning them against their extended family. Courts are also concerned when a parent turns the children into messengers or uses them to communicate threats to the other parent. The Placer County custody court can conclude that this parent is not acting in the children’s best interest and it can have a negative effect upon that parent’s parenting time.
Parental absence is another issue that concerns the Placer County custody court. If a parent is often absent from the home and the children’s lives (through no fault of the other parent), the court will consider the resulting impact upon the children. Depending upon the reason for the absence, the court may decide to consider or ignore the absence for purposes of deciding custody.
The Placer County child custody court also considers other important safety issues such as the presence of domestic violence. If a parent is threatening, abusing, harassing, destroying personal property, disturbing the peace, or otherwise abusing the other parent or the children, the court will seriously consider whether this parent should have any contact with the children. In fact, a domestic violence finding results in a rebuttable presumption that the perpetrator should not have custody. The perpetrator can rebut the presumption by showing successful completion of a batterer’s intervention program, successful completion of a drug/alcohol abuse program, successful completion of a parenting class, obedience to court ordered probation/parole guidelines, and compliance with any protective order/restraining order terms.
If you are involved in a Placer County custody battle, please do not hesitate to call us for a free half-hour consultation. Our Placer County child custody attorneys are prepared to meet with you and discuss your custody options.