Parental Rights Law

 Bill let Lisa stay in the house with their two children, but he still wants to see them and have contact with them. How do Bill and Lisa work out the parental custody of the children?

This is the start of pretty much every divorce and parental rights law separation that happens. When one of the parents leaves the home, a temporary child custody situation occurs. Parental custody during the temporary situation is handled similarly to a permanent situation. Here are some suggestions for dealing with this issue.

When parents separate, they need to come up with a child custody agreement or parenting plan for the duration of the separation. This is a temporary custody agreement because the parents may not know how long it will last or the final result. Some temporary custody agreements need to be changed into permanent custody agreements when the parents divorce (the period of waiting for a divorce to finalize is also considered temporary custody) and some of them end when the parents move back in with each other.

It's important to start the situation out right by coming up with a good custody and visitation schedule. Generally, the children will stay at the home where they live with the parent who is the primary caregiver. If both parents have been involved in taking care of the children, it is vital that parents set up a visitation schedule where the children see the parent who has moved out often. And, there should be enough time in those visits for the parent to continue the parental responsibilities.