Child Custody and Visitation Options in Massachusetts

When parents divorce in Massachusetts, it can be helpful to know how the courts approach matters of child custody and visitation.

2013-01-29

January 29, 2013 (Press-News.org) Child custody and visitation options in Massachusetts

When couples with children divorce or break up, one of the most pressing questions on everyone's mind is often where the children will live and how their relationships with their parents will be affected.

In some cases, parents are able to resolve these questions outside of court and come up with a schedule and parenting plan that meets the needs of everyone involved. However, when parents do not agree on matters of child custody and visitation, they must go to family court and have the disagreement settled by a judge. In these situations, it can be helpful for parents to understand the options that are available and how judges approach these issues in court.

Types of child custody arrangements in Massachusetts

While the details of each case may vary, Massachusetts law provides that child custody arrangements fall into four main types:
-Sole legal custody: With sole legal custody, one parent has the authority to make important decisions about the children's welfare and upbringing, such as where they will attend school and what kinds of medical care they will receive.
-Shared legal custody: With shared legal custody, both parents share responsibility for making major decisions about education, medical care and other issues affecting the children's welfare.
-Sole physical custody: With sole physical custody, the children live with one parent and spend time with the other parent according to a visitation schedule.
-Shared physical custody: With shared physical custody, the children spend alternating periods living with each parent.

When judges in Massachusetts family court make decisions about child custody and visitation, they are required to base their decisions on what they determine to be in the best interests of the children involved. This means that judges base their decisions on the children's needs rather than the needs of the parents and will award custody in the manner that they think will be best for the children.

Visitation for non-custodial parents

When one parent receives sole physical custody, the court will generally grant visitation rights to the other parent unless it believes that visitation would not be in the children's best interest. For instance, this may occur if there is a history of abuse by the non-custodial parent.

Depending on the circumstances, a judge may or may not create a fixed visitation schedule. If the parents are able to communicate and negotiate well with one another, the judge may simply grant "reasonable visitation" to the non-custodial parent, allowing the parents to work out the details of the visitation schedule as they see fit. On the other hand, if the parents are unable to communicate well, the court will provide a fixed schedule to minimize the need for constant contact and negotiation between the parents.

For more information about child custody and visitation in Massachusetts, contact a knowledgeable divorce and family law attorney.

Article provided by Claudette-Jean Girard, Attorney at Law
Visit us at http://www.familyneedslaw.com

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Indictment of Cowboys' Josh Brent Shows Stiff DUI Penalties

2013-01-29

Indictment of Cowboys' Josh Brent shows stiff DUI penalties The Cowboys' season may be over, but the woes continue for Josh Brent, the Cowboys nose tackle who suffered tragedy in December when he overturned the vehicle he and his close friend and teammate Jerry Brown were in. Brown suffered head and neck trauma from the crash and died. Brent has since been indicted on intoxication manslaughter charges. Toxicology reports revealed that Brent had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.16, which is twice the legal limit in Texas. In a sad twist, a recent autopsy report revealed ...

A Few Tips to Help Protect Your Business from a Lawsuit

2013-01-29

A few tips to help protect your business from a lawsuit Business owners want to spend their time building their business, not defending themselves from lawsuits. While a business owner's time is often stretched thin, some legal preparation can go a long way to prevent a business from getting involved in legal quagmires further down the road. Many large businesses conduct annual legal audits to determine unknown legal issues and small businesses should spend some time doing the same. Two of the most common areas of risk for small businesses are employment and intellectual ...

EBI Consultancy Reveals the Three Important Tools in Supply Chain

2013-01-29

EBI Consultancy, a successful provider of high quality commercial, management and supply chain consulting services in Asia, shares their expertise in the use of high-technology supply chain tools and what businesses could do to cope up with these trends, in a blog post released on January 18, 2013. They have listed down three (3) important tools for improving the reliability of the supply chain by increasing the visibility of goods scattered across the network through a better flow of information and using technology to improve the supply chain process. EBI stated ...

Regional Investment and Innovation Leads to Success for R&M Middle East, Turkey and Africa in 2012

2013-01-29

Reichle & De-Massari (R&M) Middle East, Turkey and Africa, the Swiss structured cabling specialist, has announced a strong performance during 2012 posting double digit growth in the region during the last 12 months. During this period, the company nearly doubled its staff strength, inaugurated a new regional office in Saudi Arabia and opened the region's first-of-its-kind patch cord assembly facility at its headquarters in Dubai. This continued investment in the region and industry-leading Swiss quality has led to impressive results for the cabling specialist. The ...

Sompo Japan Participates in Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Pilot

2013-01-29

Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. (President and CEO: Kengo Sakurada; hereinafter, gSompo Japanh) announces that the company has joined the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Pilot established by the World Bank (President: Jim Yong Kim). The program aims to reduce the natural disaster risks of Pacific Island countries, which are vulnerable to catastrophic damages caused by major cyclones and tsunamis whose frequency is increasing in recent years. 1. Background of Sompo Japanfs Participation in Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Pilot Major natural disasters, including ...

University Researchers Confirm Link Between Insomnia and Hot Flashes

2013-01-29

A team of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California recently embarked upon a study to help determine the causes of insomnia among premenopausal and postmenopausal women. The team conducted phone interviews with 982 women and gathered information about their sleep history, frequency of hot flashes, and overall health. They found that 51% of postmenopausal women suffer with hot flashes and that 79% of premenopausal women have them. Among the women with the most intense hot flashes (based on their severity and frequency), 81% of them experienced ...

Russian Interest in Marbella Property Gathers Momentum

2013-01-29

News this month from the Malaga Developer's Association reveals that the Russians have overtaken the Germans to become the second largest international home buying audience on the Costa del Sol. Marbella agent Spanish Hot Properties believes this is a trend to continue. Nick Stuart, Director of Spanish Hot Properties, says, "Russians now make up 9% of foreign property purchases leaving the Germans trailing with 7%. This is still minimal in comparison to the Brits who lead the way with 35% but, in my opinion, the start of a greater wave of Russian clients on the ...

Local Photographer Gains High Respect

2013-01-29

"We have recognized a need for aerial photography services throughout Georgia and have responded to fulfill this need by expanding our service area", explains Michael. Aerial photography has many uses in today's world whether the user needs creative marketing strategies, thorough and accurate documentation such as in land disputes or traffic accidents, project analysis, environmental impacts, or advertising campaigns. These aerial photos provide a very impressive and detailed view of the entire project from a bird's eye perspective. "We are extremely excited ...

February Trust & Asset Protection National Webinar Hosted by Gregory Herman-Giddens

2013-01-29

The hour-long webinar is designed for financial advisors and attorneys who are interested in learning how trusts can be used to protect inherited IRAs from creditors and beneficiary mismanagement while maximizing tax deferral. A board-certified attorney, Herman-Giddens will review how to structure asset protection for IRA beneficiaries. Trillions of dollars in IRAs and qualified plans to be passed down to beneficiaries in the near future could be jeopardized by mismanagement and creditor claims. There are ways to leverage specially designed trusts to protect IRAs and ensure ...

Book Marketing Announcements: The Authors Show Lineup for the Week of January 28, 2013

2013-01-29

Don McCauley of the Free Publicity Focus Group and Danielle Hampson of eBroadcastMedia.com, founders of Book Marketing, announced today The Authors Show radio and TV weekly broadcast schedule. Book Marketing, branded as 'The Authors Marketing Powerhouse', allows authors and publishers the opportunity to upload photos, bios, book covers, video and book videos. The site also offers discussion forums, segmented special interest groups and allows for event listings. Each author can develop a personalized page. In addition the site allows for integration with Facebook and ...