Ideally, child custody issues can be resolved amicably, alleviating the emotional effects of a divorce for both parents and their children. However, as some Rhode Island couples have discovered, child custody cases can also become very contentious. In those cases, the court will often need to make the final decision regarding the custody arrangement. But some parents are willing to use legal loopholes to gain what they desire.
Understanding custody
When parents end their own relationship, they will still need to figure out how to move forward with raising their children, particularly as custody does not refer to only one thing. Some of the things parents need to understand regarding child custody include:
- Parents can seek sole custody, shared custody or custody for one parent and visitation for the other
- There are two types of custody decided by the court: legal and physical
- Legal custody establishes who will be responsible for making the major decisions in a child’s life, such as those affecting education, religion and health care
- Physical custody establishes where the child will live and how much time the child will spend with each parent
How legal loopholes affect custody
Legal loopholes can be used to void the custody order set by the court. While a parent might think they are doing what is best for the children, the legal custody order is created with this in mind. However, some parents might resort to a legal loophole such as a teen marriage to avoid the custody order. A parent might allow their teenager to marry since then the information established by the custody order will no longer be effective.
Parents need to learn to communicate about their children’s needs and separate their own feelings about their child’s other parent from their responsibilities as parents. Attempting to use a legal loophole can be harmful to the child and detrimental to the parents’ relationship with the child.
