How confident do you feel about your upcoming family court date? Are you ready to walk in and present a well prepared and documented child custody agreement to the judge? Or are you nervous and not quite sure what to expect? The key to feeling confident about appearing in family and custody court is preparation.
If you are prepared, you don't need to worry.
That preparation will shine through in the courtroom and the judge will be more likely to incorporate your custody plan.
Here are three suggestions for preparing for the big day.
1.
Be on your best behavior.
The court is going to discuss how you've been behaving during your custody situation.
If you are uncooperative and not communicating with your spouse about what you're doing with the children it makes you look bad.
It is normal to feel some anger and resentment at your ex spouse--but you shouldn't take out that anger with the child custody issues.
Communicate with your spouse and let them know when you'll be bringing the kids back, or dropping them off, or picking them up.
And, follow through on what you say.
If your spouse has multiple incidences of you saying one thing about the kids and doing another they will bring it up--and the judge won't look on that favorably.
Cooperate with your spouse, support your kids, and be reliable.
2.
Come up with a well thought out plan.
The judge in family and custody court will be impressed if you have a well thought out plan.
Come up with the custody agreement that you'd like the court to accept.
Make your agreement fair and in the best interest of the child.
Divide the holidays equally between you and your spouse, come up with the basic schedule of custody, and decide how you will make joint, or shared, custody work if that is what you want.
You should also think through any additional provisions that you want in your custody agreement.
Do you want to be informed if your ex gets your child a passport? Do you want to ban negative talk about the other parent around the child? Put it in the agreement.
The fact that you spent so much time creating your custom agreement shows the court that you are putting your child as your first priority.
If you want some help creating your custody agreement, you may want to look into purchasing some child custody software.
There are some programs out there that let you easily create and print a calendar, and also allow you print out your agreement with any provisions you want.
3.
Bring documents.
Once you've created your child custody agreement, print the documents and bring multiple copies to court.
You will be able to impress the judge when you hand him/her a copy of the year long calendar you created, plus a typed list of provisions, and a calculated time share.
This shows that you really did your homework and it will also help you to present your agreement.
If you are using a child custody software to help you prepare your documents you should be able to print multiple copies with no problems.
You have enough to stress about without the additional worry of appearing in family court for your child custody.
Work hard before and get prepared so that your day in court goes smoothly and stress-free.
If you are prepared, you don't need to worry.
That preparation will shine through in the courtroom and the judge will be more likely to incorporate your custody plan.
Here are three suggestions for preparing for the big day.
1.
Be on your best behavior.
The court is going to discuss how you've been behaving during your custody situation.
If you are uncooperative and not communicating with your spouse about what you're doing with the children it makes you look bad.
It is normal to feel some anger and resentment at your ex spouse--but you shouldn't take out that anger with the child custody issues.
Communicate with your spouse and let them know when you'll be bringing the kids back, or dropping them off, or picking them up.
And, follow through on what you say.
If your spouse has multiple incidences of you saying one thing about the kids and doing another they will bring it up--and the judge won't look on that favorably.
Cooperate with your spouse, support your kids, and be reliable.
2.
Come up with a well thought out plan.
The judge in family and custody court will be impressed if you have a well thought out plan.
Come up with the custody agreement that you'd like the court to accept.
Make your agreement fair and in the best interest of the child.
Divide the holidays equally between you and your spouse, come up with the basic schedule of custody, and decide how you will make joint, or shared, custody work if that is what you want.
You should also think through any additional provisions that you want in your custody agreement.
Do you want to be informed if your ex gets your child a passport? Do you want to ban negative talk about the other parent around the child? Put it in the agreement.
The fact that you spent so much time creating your custom agreement shows the court that you are putting your child as your first priority.
If you want some help creating your custody agreement, you may want to look into purchasing some child custody software.
There are some programs out there that let you easily create and print a calendar, and also allow you print out your agreement with any provisions you want.
3.
Bring documents.
Once you've created your child custody agreement, print the documents and bring multiple copies to court.
You will be able to impress the judge when you hand him/her a copy of the year long calendar you created, plus a typed list of provisions, and a calculated time share.
This shows that you really did your homework and it will also help you to present your agreement.
If you are using a child custody software to help you prepare your documents you should be able to print multiple copies with no problems.
You have enough to stress about without the additional worry of appearing in family court for your child custody.
Work hard before and get prepared so that your day in court goes smoothly and stress-free.
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