Every parent, whether you are the mother or the father, has rights as it pertains to your child in
a divorce situation. Arizona courts routinely exercise the "child's best interest" standard when determining
those rights. Generally, most parents in litigation will argue as to who would be the better parent to be the residential
parent (meaning, the parent with whom the child will primarily live with). This idea of being the residential parent
is far different than the issue of "custody." Custody is somewhat mislabeled in Illinois, because custody
doesn't mean who has the child and when. So, if you want joint custody, please make sure that you understand that this
doesn't mean that you'll each have the child about 50% of the time.
Differently, custody is defined as having rights
to making decisions related to the child, like choice of religion, health-care choices, and educational selections. The
word custody has nothing to do with who has the child, and when. What does play a heavy part in where the child is located,
is residency (where the child lives, primarily), and parenting time (the schedule by which the non-residential parent has
the child). So, when parents litigate, it's usually about residency and parenting time, and not about custody. However,
there could be disagreements about custody if one parent, or both, feel that they simply can't communicate effectively to
make those joint decisions about the child's upbringing.
The topic of "mother's rights" or "father's
rights" is generally advertised by some lawyers to essentially be attractive to potential clients that are either the
mother or father. You should be well aware that there is essentially no difference between the mother's rights and the
father's rights according to Illinois law. In fact, seeking litigation that pursues one parent's rights over that of
the other parent's rights automatically places you against the true court measure of "child's rights." Most
attorneys and I would argue a number of Judge's automatically classify you as the loser in the custody battle when your retain
the lawyer that holds themselves out as the champion for dads or moms.
The best approach is to hire an attorney that's
well enough seasoned to mask your wants and portray those wants as being consistent with the child's best interests in your
case. That approach would be the winning tactic to do very well in a custody case, and a strategic nuance that many
less-seasoned attorneys do not consider, or discuss with their clients.
If you want a no-pressure and
free consultation with Mr. Nordini, simply call
him at (480) 527-9000 or email him at paul.nordini@divorceinfosite.com