Arlington, TX Custody Lawyers

When you are trying to decide custody in Arlington, working with qualified legal professionals can help you make sure your family is protected. 

Key Takeaways:

• There are several terms you should understand related to child custody, including conservatorship and possession-and-access, as well as sole vs. joint custody.
  

• When deciding child custody arrangements, the court always strives to make decisions that serve the best interest of the child.
  

• Our Arlington custody lawyers can help you create legal strategies that best fit the specific circumstances of your family.

Divorce is hard enough, but it becomes infinitely harder when there are children involved. It’s normal to feel anxious during the child custody process. Naturally, you are afraid of losing out on time with your children, and perhaps you even fear you will lose them altogether. Luckily, there’s a solution! When you work with our experienced Arlington custody lawyers, you can rest assured that you have professionals working hard to secure a fair outcome in custody-related decisions.

The lawyers at Youngblood Law, PLLC, have helped many clients fight for favorable custody arrangements. Using interest-based negotiation tactics, we are able to help you streamline the process and cut through the pain and stress in order to get to the meat of the matter: your children and their well-being. Reach out to us to schedule a free initial consultation and learn how we can make a difference in the lives of you and your children.

What You Should Know About Child Custody

As you go through the child custody process, you will encounter a fair bit of terminology that might be new to you. Here is a general overview of the most common terms you will encounter and what they mean: 

• Conservatorship: Conservatorship is another word for custody. There are multiple types of conservatorship, including sole custody and joint custody, discussed below. 
• Possession and access: “Possession and access” is a phrase used to describe visitation. As with conservatorship, there are multiple ways that possession and access can be arranged. 
• Sole custody: Sole custody is a custody arrangement in which the child resides with one parent, who is also responsible for the care of and decision-making on behalf of the child.
• Joint custody: Joint custody is when both parents share some measure of responsibility for the care of the child, and living arrangements are split between them.
• Custodial parent: The custodial parent is the parent who has custody of the child. 
• Non-custodial parent: The non-custodial parent is the parent who does not have custody of the child, though they might still have visitation rights.

Our knowledgeable Arlington custody lawyers at Youngblood Law can help you understand any further legal terminology and their implications when you work with us on your custody arrangement.

Considerations For Child Custody

One of the most pertinent questions on your mind likely has to do with how custody is decided and what factors are weighed in the decision-making process. First and foremost, what you should understand is that if you and your co-parent can work together and collaboratively come up with a parenting plan, you can make decisions about your family’s future without having to go to court. If mediation or negotiation is unsuccessful, your case will need to go before a judge (who isn’t familiar with you or your kids). 

Judges in family court will always strive to make custody choices that are in the best interest of the child. What is or isn’t the “best interest” will depend on a number of different factors, but generally speaking, a judge will endeavor to give kids as much access as possible to both parents based on the belief that it is good for childhood development.

However, you should keep in mind that it might not be best for the child to be exposed to certain types of parental behavior—abuse, for example, or drug dependency. If the other parent can prove that you are a negative influence on your child, you might not be granted sole custody, joint custody, or even unsupervised visitation unless you can prove otherwise. 

Your custody arrangement will be decided based on factors of which parent and environment will be most favorable to the child. Judges are likely to ask these types of questions:

• Does the child favor one parent over the other?
• Does one parent have more time for the child than the other?
• Can one parent provide a better living space?
• Can one parent provide access to better education?

For any particular considerations in your custody arrangement, you need to speak to our custody lawyers about how best to make a case for how your time with your child will be arranged.

Our Arlington Custody Lawyers Can Put Your Mind At Ease

At Youngblood Law, PLLC, we value efficacy. We prioritize methods that will yield results rather than put your child in the middle of a toxic battle between you and your ex. Most importantly, we want what is best for you and your children, and we will fight extensively to achieve that best result. Reach out to schedule a free initial consultation, and we will discuss the particulars of your situation and some strategies we may employ to sort out your ideal custody arrangement.