• How is Child Support Determined In order to establish consistency and predictability in the amount of child support awards, the federal government mandates child support guidelines to be used by the states.
• "Parentified" Children Suffer Later A parent who uses a child for support is robbing the child of his childhood.
• A Child Cries; Parents Misinterpret There are many possible reasons why children resist going from one parent to the other.
• Adoption Secrecy Damages Children Lying to a child about his or her paternity is a fundamental lie.
• Avoid It is an unfortunately common pattern to see women who marry men whom they know are indifferent to children of an earlier marriage.
• Behavior Parents who can't make up their minds about their marriage must expect their children to be confused and distraught.
• Cats: Divorcing Parents Use Pets to Control Children's Decisions Numerous parents have bought their child a pet just at the time a custody struggle begins, to influence the children's wishes about where they want to live.
• Car Payment vs. Child Support Parents who don't pay child support should not be surprised when a judge does not believe them when they claim to "love" their children
• Chameleon Kids Divorced parents need to love their children more than they hate each other in order to prevent the chameleon effect.
• Child Custody and School Children should continue to attend whatever school they previously attended until the parents agree, or a Court orders otherwise.
• Children of Warring Parents Descend Into Hellish Words I have identified four circles of hell--hell for the children of the warring parents.
• Children's, Parent's Rights Often Conflict One of the most common causes of post-divorce litigation is one parent's decision to move to another state, or even another city.
• Child's Best Interests Are What Matter It is important to keep in mind that in custody cases, it is the child's best interests that matter, not the parents.
• Counselors Can Find Out What Kids Really Want Divorced parents often have very different perspectives about what their children want or need.
• Court Guardian Protects Child's Interests Durring Parents's Divorce Pass a law that requires all children to have a lawyer when their parents divorce.
• Custody Cases Not As Simple As Good vs Bad I have yet to see a custody case in which one party is a good parent and the other a bad parent.
• Custody Was Legal, But It Wasn't Right After he'd won, the father said, "The legal answer is right for me, but it's wrong for my child."
• Dad's Sacrifice In Custody Battle Spares His Son Learning from other peoples' mistakes is an all-too-rare occurrence, but it occurred recently to a father in family court.
• Discipline With Teaching, Love Disciplining children of divorce is a common topic of disagreement in custody cases.
• Divided Child Custody A Mistake Parenting is not a competitive sport.
• Divorce Pair Should Agree On Discipline The discipline of children is a frequent source of post-divorce litigation.
• Divorcing Parents Can Give Their Kids Second-Best Parents who cooperate in a civilized and peaceful way, and who live as near to each other as possible, can keep the price their children pay quite small.
• Divorcing Parents Urged Not to Change Child's School Divorcing parents should try to minimize the changes their children will have to undergo.
• Don't Give Children a Sophie's Choice Which of your parents do you want?
• Don't Let Divorce Mar Kids Schooling I find it shocking to hear parents express cavalier attitudes about the importance of school.
• Human Each spouse frequently rewrites the biography of the other spouse in entirely negative terms.
• Interstate-Custody Rule Relieves Angst Child Custody used to be even worse than it is now; much worse.
• It Doesn't Pay To Lie To Children To protect a child from the truth, unless there are serious and extenuating circumstances, is only to delay reality and cause confusion.
• Judges, Not Kids, Decide Custody Myth: When a child reaches the age of 14, it is the child who can decide which parent to live with. That is not true!
• Kids Need First in Custody Cases What will it take to educate the public that custody cases are about what children need, not about mothers and fathers?
• Law Separates Issues Of Child Support, Visits As far as the law of divorce is concerned, time and money are altogether separate issues.
• Legal Answers Not Always Solutions, Arithmetic Often Beats Legal Answer Legal answers cost way too much to get, and too often they don't work very well.
• Missed Parent Visits Are Hurtful Divorced parents should never miss a scheduled visit unless there is a compelling, absolutely unavoidable event of near-life-threatening proportion.
• New Traditions Ease Kids' Pain In Divorce Small rituals can become valued traditions that can bind a separated family with threads of shared pleasure.
• Parental Custody Is Sometimes Out Of Joint? Joint or shared custody can work IF the parents can come to a common understanding of what it is, but as with so many things,it is essential to define the terms.
• Putting Parents In Child's Shoes "Nesting" is a difficult and unpleasant experiment, but it probably should be made a part of every family's divorce process.
• Religion is a Worry For Kids In Divorce Religion is one of five major matters that child custody law addresses.
• Two Rights Make Decision Tougher Who gets custody when both parents are good?