A previous post here discussed the concept of joint legal custody, which is now rolled in under the term “allocation of parental responsibilities.” To review, joint legal custody refers to a custody setup in which both parents must be involved in and make the most significant decisions in a child’s life together.
Decision-making authority is an important matter to resolve in a family law case involving children. After all, a parent who takes authority to make decisions lightly might wind up being unable to stop health care and education decisions that the other parent makes for their child, even if the parent making these decisions kept the other one completely out of the loop. Incidentally, the parent who opposed the decision might still be on the hook for all or part of any financial consequences associated with that decision.
This is why it is important for parents in the Rockford area to secure the proper legal representation should they find themselves in a dispute about their decision-making authority over their children. As with any child custody case, our office’s approach is to look at any case with a full view of all the facts and circumstances, whether favorable or not. This approach helps us to help our clients set goals that are best both for their children and themselves.
Once we have a good handle on the facts and circumstances, we work hard to represent our clients’ best interests. Ideally, we do so through mediation, negotiation or other techniques that fall short of going in front of a judge. However, we are fully prepared to advocate for our clients’ interests in court.