When a dispute arises over custody and visitation arrangements during a divorce or paternity action, the input of an experienced family law attorney can help you reach the best possible outcome  and can make a positive difference in your future. Child custody and visitation are typically the most important issue to our family law clients. Unlike property division, your child or children’s well-being is second to none.  As a large number of divorce cases involve children, custody is generally an aspect of our Tulsa family law cases. We are skilled at litigating all aspects of custody cases, including establishment of physical custody, visitation, decision making, modifications, emergency issues, and more.

Child custody refers to all parental rights in the rearing of the child, including the right to direct a child’s activities and to make decisions for their well-being. Visitation or time-sharing is a form of custody. Fathers and mothers have the same legal rights to seek custody of or visitation with their minor children.

There are many terms that arise in child custody arrangements: physical custody, legal custody, sole custody, and joint custody. Physical custody refers to the parent with whom the child lives a majority of the time. Legal custody refers to the right to participate in important decisions, including those involving education, medical care and religion. Sole child custody refers to a parent who possesses both legal and physical custody. The child’s other parent typically has visitation rights and is entitled to information about education, medical treatment and religion. However, final decision making authority resides with the parent who has sole custody. In a joint custody or shared parenting arrangement, parents have equal legal custody rights although the child may spend more time at one home than the other.

Visitation Modifications

As circumstances change, the visitation schedule may need to be modified to adapt your agreement to the changes. Post-divorce events that can affect your current agreement include, but are not limited to:

Remarriage of one parent

A parent has a boyfriend/girlfriend move in with that parent

A change in job that requires an out-of-state move

The child’s relationship changes with one parent

A parent starts to work at night

There are many circumstances you will face throughout the years of raising your children that will have a huge impact upon your life. If your current parent/child visitation arrangement is not serving your best interests or the interests of the child(ren) , you can seek legal guidance from our experienced family lawyers to discuss modification of your visitation agreement.