Child custody can be a difficult arrangement; parents may argue over the visitation rights and legal custody allocations provided. There are ways for you and your spouse to work through custody disputes, so you can move forward with your divorce or separation.
Which ways can you settle a custody dispute?
One of the main ways to settle a custody dispute is through informal negotiations. With informal negotiations, you can your attorney will work with your spouse’s attorney to look through the concerns of each parent and then to resolve those issues. Typically, your attorneys will negotiate your agreement, coming up with a solution that is agreeable for both parties.
What is Alternative Dispute Resolution?
Alternative dispute resolution is a process that includes things like mediation and collaborative law. With this process, the ways the negotiations take place are based on how the parents are willing to work together and how many of the key issues they disagree on. For instance, if the parents are willing to work together, then mediation may be an effective strategy, because they can work through their issues together with an impartial third party or their attorneys. In that case, the goal is to lead the couple to an agreement on their own without a determination made by a judge or outsider.
If the couple is unable to work together or needs a more structured process, then arbitration may be required. This is like mediation, but at the end, the third party, the arbitrator, can make the decision on the custody arrangements that will take place.
Source: FindLaw, “Working Together to Resolve Custody,” accessed May 23, 2016