Arizona parents who decide to divorce could face major changes in how their families function. While most parents hate to spend more time away from their children than necessary, divorce usually comes with some level of shared time between the exes. There are a number of different configurations for child custody, reflecting the fact that each family is unique. While joint or shared custody is becoming much more popular in family courts, there are also a number of reasons why families may choose one parent to maintain primary physical custody.
Employment requirements, living situations and other circumstances may mean that the best choice for the children is to stay with one of their parents most of the time. However, this does not mean that the other parent is deficient or has a lesser role to play in the children’s lives. Non-custodial parents can enjoy active visitation schedules and loving parent-child relationships. In addition, they may share legal custody of the children, giving them the right to make decisions about education, health care and other critical topics.
Some people think that being a non-custodial parent means being an uninvolved parent. On the contrary, many non-custodial parents enjoy significant visitation time, including frequent overnight visits. In addition, regularly paying child support is a major contribution to the child’s well-being and development. There are also no gender restrictions on custody; both mothers and fathers can be custodial or non-custodial parents.
When parents decide to divorce, they may be concerned about how their family relationships will change. A family law attorney can represent a divorcing parent to negotiate a fair settlement on a range of legal matters, including child support, child custody and visitation.