The Major Factor Considerations in Child Custody Determinations

Many factors come into play when a court is determining child custody in Michigan, and this is only right since it’s a weighty decision with life-altering consequences for the child. If you are a parent attempting to gain sole or joint custody of a child or children, here’s what you should expect a court to consider before making a determination.

Ability to Provide Financially
Parents must be able to financially provide for the basic needs of children, including food, clothing, medical care, and other material needs. This isn’t necessarily the most important factor, especially since a child support determination could follow child custody, but it is definitely a consideration.

Ability to Provide Emotionally
Emotional bonds are important to a child’s health and well-being, and Michigan courts want to avoid damaging parent-child bonds as much as possible. This is why courts look not only at each parent’s capacity to provide for the child’s emotional needs, but also the bond the child shares with parents, and which one he/she turns to for comfort, emotional support, and guidance.

Stability
Is the current environment a child lives in stable? How long has it been stable? Do parents have a strong support network in place? Are children comfortable and happy? Are they safe? Courts don’t want to disrupt a child’s life any more than is absolutely necessary, so stability is an important factor in their determination.

Moral Fitness
This is not the slippery slope it sounds like. In fact, courts only concern themselves with “immoral” actions that could affect ability to parent. Just because one parent is upset that the other one is dating doesn’t constitute grounds to question moral fitness. However, if a parent is drinking, doing drugs, or involved in criminal acts, these factors could certainly be relevant to the ability to parent and keep children safe.

Physical and Mental Health
Parents are under no obligation to disclose medical records to the court for the purposes of child custody determination, nor can courts discriminate based on disability. However, the hope is that parents unable to properly care for children due to physical or mental issues will consider the welfare and best interests of their kids before seeking custody.

Willingness to Cooperate
Courts tend to assume that each parent has a right to a relationship with their own child, and that children have a right to a relationship with both parents, barring extenuating circumstances such as domestic violence, for example. For this reason, courts may favor parents that present a cooperative attitude and support the idea of facilitating a relationship between the child and the non-custodial parent.

Child Preference
If the child is old enough, his/her preference about which parent receives custody may be taken into consideration, and this factor bears more weight the older the child is. In other words, the court will ask the child where he/she would prefer to live.

A determination of child custody is an extremely serious matter for parents, and you need an expert lawyer to guide you through the process. Contact the Gucciardo Law Firm today at 248-723-5190 to get the legal assistance you need moving forward with a child custody case.