The 3 Ways To Prepare Yourself And Your Child For A Custody Hearing

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Divorce is never on people’s minds when they marry and have kids. It’s assumed you will have a happily ever after life with your partner and children. Unfortunately, divorce can happen to anybody and when there are children involved, it can get quite messy.

 

Custody battles are common as both parents think the best way forward is for them to have sole custody. Which creates a rather messy divorce. You can prepare for a custody hearing to help your chances of retaining it and to make sure that the children are not traumatized by the experience.

 

In this article, we will go over some of the things you should be doing to prepare for the hearing to make sure that you have done everything possible to help your case.

 

1 - Get a good family lawyer

 

One problem with trying to research how to prepare for a custody hearing is that every state has its own family laws. You’ll need to know what those laws are before preparing. In other words, it can be very confusing.

 

Your best bet is to hire a local family law firm to help you prepare for the custody battle. If your divorce and custody are contentious then this will help you get through this period.

 

Look for locals like Skyview Law if you are in Washington State, for instance. They will know the local laws and be able to help your case. Another incentive is that they will likely know most of the judges. They know how to operate in a courtroom with certain judges so this is to your advantage. Otherwise, you may make a mistake with some judges without even knowing it.

 

2 - Understand the experience

 

One of the things that people have to understand about custody hearings is that your case is presented before a judge. It is up to the judge to determine how it will go. Knowing this, you have to know what the experience is like.

 

The first question a judge is likely to ask is what kind of arrangement the parents are each looking for. If you are looking for sole custody and the other parent is asking the same then it complicates things. If looking for joint custody is what you both want, then the judge will ask questions to determine how to split the custody of the child.

 

Another line of questions will be about the current arrangements and ask each parent what is working or not to decide how to make it work for all parties involved.

 

3 - Dress well

 

A judge won’t have time to truly get to know you so he or she will make a quick determination about your character based on your appearance. The key thing to do is to dress as if you are going for a job interview.

 

Wear clothes that look professional and imply that you are a serious person. Going in casual clothes may make an impression that you aren’t taking the process or the court appearance seriously.