The Process of Seeking Full Custody Of Your Child

best divorce lawyers in Orange County; The Maggio Law FirmWhat does Full Custody Mean?

Full custody is also known as sole custody in the legal arena. While both these things mean the same, it is misleading to go with the literal meanings of the words. Full custody basically means that a large amount of control and care of the child is the prerogative of one parent.

In Orange County divorce and child custody cases, full custody does not mean that the other parent is barred from meeting the child. It simply means that the other parent’s visitations and other meetings with the child will be considerably less than the time the full custody parent gets to spend. When a parent wants full custody, they are usually talking about both physical and legal custody, as opposed to just asking for a greater share in the time spent with the child.

Full Custody before Judgment

If you want to get full custody of your child before the final decision, this will require a best interest analysis of the child. All child custody cases are based on the rule of deciding the cases on the best interest of the child. The best interest analysis looks at aspects such as the child’s safety, education, health and wellbeing.

To get full custody before the court’s proper judgment, a parent has to submit a request for order. The order is basically used to put the issue of child custody and visitation before the court. This is an order before judgment and hence any order passed by the judge now is deemed as temporary and not permanent.

Full custody order in favor of a particular parent requires a showing to the court that the other parent is not capable of caring for the child on regular basis, and therefore she is the only one who is capable enough to look after the well-being of the child.

The reasons to convince the court of the other parent’s inability can be a recent case of domestic violence. A recent criminal activity record of the other parent will also have an adverse effect on child custody issues.

Full Custody after Judgment

The process of getting custody after judgment is similar to the method of getting it before the judgment. The only difference being that for the courts to change the custody order, there has to be a substantial change of circumstances that are material. If you do have custody and you are only asking for an increase in custody time, in such a case, showing material change in circumstances may not be required per se.

This blog was written to cater to the frequent questions that people having child custody issues tend to ask.  If you are a mother or a father wanting full custody, we hope this article at least gave you an idea of the procedure that you’ll need to follow to obtain child custody.

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