Child custody issues can rear their ugly head at any time, and it doesn’t matter if the parents had married or not. The courts recognize that parental rights transcend the matter of marriage which means that custody agreements are enforceable. Sometimes it happens that the custodial parent decides to not go along with the agreement or raise the children properly or both. When this happens, it’s time to go back into court with a Child Custody Lawyer. You have rights as a parent, and when the other abdicates their responsibilities, you can sue for full custody in court.
There are many different possible configurations for custody, but all that has to happen to cause issues is for one parent to not cooperate with the other. That means that one parent has the children and refuses to give them up at the appointed time. Once isn’t enough to warrant a phone call to a Child Custody Lawyer, but repeated violations of the custody order most certainly is. The parent who is withholding the children from visitation is depriving the children of their ability to interact with the other parent. Courts don’t exactly appreciate this activity and tend to punish the parent who isn’t doing their job, especially when a lawyer points it out.
Another issue that can push child custody into the court is when the custodial parent is obviously neglecting the care of the children. This can include bringing unsuitable partners into the home, engaging in unsavory activities or simply neglecting the children’s well being. This is a situation where the custodial parent is using the children for nothing more than financial gain. It’s not fair to the other parent and it is especially unfair to the children who have to bear the brunt of the lack of care. The children did nothing to deserve this kind of neglect which can go to the favor of the other parent who wants full custody to raise them properly.