North Carolina Divorce Lawyers Blog

Articles Tagged with child custody

Published on:

By

Stable and supportive environments are crucial to a child’s health and well-being. Having healthy relationships with their primary caregivers is also vital, as these relationships impact every part of their development.1 Grandparents often have established relationships with their grandchildren and volunteer to help with the many demands of raising a child. However, what happens when a parent cannot provide a child with an appropriate environment or relationship to develop and thrive? Third parties, like grandparents, may be able to step in to take over the biological parents’ role in supporting these children.   Continue reading →

Published on:

By

North Carolina does not require that unmarried or divorcing parents get a custody order.[1] When a mother or father has the designation of a legal parent, they both have the same rights when there is no order in place. Legal parent classification can be obtained in a number of ways, including by any of the following:

  • The child’s birth certificate
  • Child support order
  • Adoption order
  • Affidavit of Parentage

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

JOHNSON V. LAWING, 2023-NCCOA-______ (2023)

When a minor child in the middle of a custody case attends therapy, sometimes those treatment records contain relevant and important facts that may aid a court in making a custody determination. However, not every case in which the child attends therapy means that the therapy records will be considered in making that determination. Below is a case where the mother was denied a modification of custody because she thought that the court had improperly considered her son’s therapy records when they were not admitted as evidence. Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Divorce and child custody proceedings are often adversarial and challenging processes. With cases that involve high stakes and emotions, courts may decide to appoint a parenting coordinator.

What is a Parenting Coordinator?

A parenting coordinator is an impartial third party who helps in high-conflict cases[1]. The coordinator has the authority to perform a number of tasks that involve compliance with court orders and dispute resolution. Some common potentially contentious areas that they may assist[2] with include: Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Military families face challenges that civilian-only families do not, and navigating family law matters is especially difficult when servicemembers are involved. How do North Carolina courts determine child custody when deployment is a possibility? It depends heavily on the individual circumstances, but here is a brief overview of relevant guidelines. Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Child custody is often a highly contentious topic in family law because of both parents’ and guardians’ strong desires to spend as much time as possible with their child. If you currently have a permanent custody order in place, you may be able to have it amended. However, while it is possible for custody orders to be changed by the court, it is not something you can request on a whim; you must adhere to strict legal requirements.

North Carolina Requirements

Permanent custody orders require two elements in order for there to be a valid reason to amend them, which are:

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

Child support is an important aspect of providing for the needs of a child after a separation or divorce. It is essential for both parents to contribute to the financial needs of the child, and the state of North Carolina has established guidelines for determining the amount of child support to be paid. The calculation of child support is based on several factors, chief among them is the parent’s income, earnings, and relative ability to pay.  Continue reading →

Published on:

By

In most cases here in North Carolina, child support has been reduced to an equation based upon guidelines that have been approved by the state. It is much like filing taxes—there are inputs for each parent’s income, the number of children, and the custodial schedule. Schedules are then used to determine the obligation for support. There may be certain line items that add or subtract from one parent’s obligation. In some circumstances, the court (or a parent) may see fit to depart from the guidelines, in which case a separate set of standards is used to calculate support; this is called deviation. In these cases, the actual expenses for the children are factors in determining the support obligation. Actual expenses are not typically part of the formula in guideline cases. However, there exists one category in the guidelines that does account for expenses. It is called extraordinary expenses. Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Custody and parental rights are understandably sensitive topics, which is why having an experienced North Carolina custody lawyer on your side can make a difference. Determining custody of a child is a challenging process. There are numerous laws and considerations that are factored into a custody decision, and one recent case from the Court of Appeals in Forsyth County shows how complex these cases can be. Continue reading →

Published on:

By

When you file a claim for child custody in North Carolina, both parties must attend the Custody Mediation and Visitation Program pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50-13.1.  Upon completion of this program, the matter may then be set for hearing if the parties are unable to come to an agreement during mediation.  There are circumstances where the Court will waive the mediation requirement.  Those circumstances will not be analyzed in this blog.   

  Continue reading →