Child Custody Laws In The United States

It is important to recognize that the child custody laws in the United States will vary from state to state. For example child custody laws in Texas will differ from NYS child support laws.

Child support laws in Texas will differ from California child custody laws. It might be useful to firstly understand how the legal system in the U.S. works. Generally the legal system in the U.S. is divided between Federal and State courts.

The state courts hear most legal actions and federal courts generally hear only issues of a specific legal issue such as the interpretation of the constitution or if one of the parties is from a foreign country. The Supreme Court is the top federal court therefore and beneath it is a layer of judicial courts which hears appeals from the federal district courts.

Your custody or divorce proceedings will be heard in a state court and decisions from state courts can be appealed to a court of appeals and appealed from it to the supreme court of the state. Within the state court system you will have divisions between criminal matters, civil matters, family law, small claims and so on. Regardless of which state you are in the probability is that you will have 3 tiers of court structure comprised of trial, intermediate appellate and high appellate.

State courts will be scattered throughout your state and operate at district or county level. Generally the law states that neither mom or dad should be preferred because of their sex-it is up to both parents to prove to the judge that they are the better choice. However because judges are human beings as well as judges you may well encounter a situation where a judge’s personal preference and prejudice will manifest itself. If this happens to you, you may look for a change of venue which is the same thing as a change of judge.

But you must make your request before the judge hands down his judgment on the meat of the issue. Some states allow a change of venue without the need to offer a reason but once it is transferred it will be difficult to obtain any further changes of venue unless you can point to a specific instance of prejudice or bias on the part of your new judge. Many judges in the states in the south of the U.S. will favour the mother, all other things being equal.

If you are a dad it is up to you and your lawyer to ensure that you put your best case forward and to ensure that all things are not equal from the judge’s perspective. However prejudice and bias can cut both ways and many judges will favour the father, particularly if the mother is in full time employment or in a professional career which is time consuming. You really need the assistance of a good attorney who is familiar with the judges in his state and who will be aware of the potential for bias in a decision and who is aware of the nuances of the various judges who may sit in judgment in your child custody case.

Grandparents have rights in all states to be awarded custody of their grandchildren or visitation rights to them. These rights are not in the constitution though and individual states have begun to recognize these rights only in the last few decades. This area of law is in a state of flux since the Supreme Court decided in Troxel v Granville that recognizing these unconstitutional rights could impinge upon parents rights to raise their children as they saw fit so if you are in this situation and you are a grandparent you really need to check the law in your own state to see what is the current state of play in this regard.

Federal legislation requires that courts in each state recognize the grandparents’ custody and visitation orders that they may have obtained in other states under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act. Generally, since Troxel v Granville, states are very much on guard to safeguard the parents’ rights but grandparents are generally seen as a benign influence on the child and it may well be seen by any court presented with a petition that it is in the best interests of the child that visitation rights are afforded to the grandparent.

Child custody laws in the United States are not the only laws that you will be concerned with in your custody battle because other laws such as child support laws,family laws,alimony laws,child visitation laws,paternity laws,spousal support laws and divorce law may all,at one time or another,influence your child custody proceedings. Child support laws vary from state to state too and New York state child support laws have significant differences from how child support is calculated in Texas.