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Child custody & visitation
Custody orders are made on a thin record and then become very hard to change. The parent who shows up prepared, with a specific plan and credible evidence, usually leaves with most of what they asked for. I prepare custody cases for the San Francisco and San Mateo County family courts, from the first mediation session through evaluations and trial.
Judges in both counties see hundreds of these cases a year and have little patience for character attacks. What moves them is specificity: a proposed schedule that accounts for school, commute and each parent's real availability; a documented history of who has done the day-to-day parenting; and a parent who can describe the other parent's strengths without being prompted. Most of my work in custody cases is turning a client's frustration into that kind of record.
A domestic violence finding within the past five years creates a legal presumption against awarding custody to that parent. It changes everything about how a custody case is handled, whether you are the protected party or the restrained one. See restraining orders.
The best interest of the child: health, safety and welfare, any history of abuse, the amount and nature of each parent's contact with the child, and each parent's willingness to support the child's relationship with the other. A finding of domestic violence creates a presumption against custody for the abusive parent.
Yes. Both San Francisco and San Mateo County require a Family Court Services mediation session before a contested custody hearing. In San Mateo the mediator makes a written recommendation to the judge, which makes preparation critical.
Only on a showing of immediate harm to the child or a risk the child will be removed from the state. Ex parte requests on anything less are denied and cost credibility. When the facts justify it, I can file one within a day.
There is no magic age. A child fourteen or older who wishes to address the court must be allowed to unless the judge finds it is not in the child's interest; younger children's preferences are considered if they are mature enough to form an intelligent preference. In practice, preferences are usually heard through the mediator or a minor's counsel.
A parent with sole physical custody has a presumptive right to relocate; with joint custody the court decides anew based on the child's best interest. Move-away cases are the hardest cases in family law and should not be started, or opposed, without counsel.
Most people call after something has already gone wrong. The better time is before. Tell me where things stand and I'll tell you what I would do first.
Request a consultationor call 213.477.3732