Child Custody Challenges for Orange County Executive Couples

If you are facing a child custody case, you undoubtedly recognize that it’s a legally challenging and emotionally complex matter. And if you and/or your divorcing spouse are both business execs, you are likely to face additional complications. In order to protect your parental rights throughout the legal process, don’t wait to consult with an experienced Orange County child custody attorney. Be proactive.

How Child Custody Cases Are Resolved in Orange County

In California, child custody cases are always resolved in accordance with the best interests of the children. This means that you and the other parent can each expect to receive a significant amount of parenting time – unless there is a serious reason for limiting either parent’s visitation with the children. It is well accepted that children benefit from remaining close to and spending a significant amount of time with each parent, and this is what guides Orange County judges.

Uncontested Cases

If you and the other parent are in agreement about how to split your time with your children, you can consider yourselves ahead of the curve. California courts routinely sign off on parenting plans that parents hammer out between themselves, and you can be as creative as you need to be in order to accommodate each of your busy schedules as executives in the workforce.

Contested Cases Require the Intervention of the Orange County Court

If you’ve exhausted your options related to negotiations between yourselves – as guided by your respective child custody attorneys – you’ll need the court’s intervention. And you can expect the Orange County judge presiding over your case to base their decision on best-interest factors like the following:

• Each child’s age and developmental stage
• Each child’s overall physical and mental health
• The amount of involvement each parent has had in raising the children to date
• The depth of the relationship each parent has cultivated with the children
• Each parent’s work schedule, which as executives, can be quite hectic
• Each child’s physical, medical, emotional, and educational needs, including any special needs
• Each parent’s ability and inclination to effectively address each child’s needs
• Each parent’s age and overall mental and physical health
• Each parent’s commitment to effective co-parenting with the other
• Each parent’s commitment to supporting a healthy relationship between the children and their other parent
• Whether domestic abuse, child abuse, or child neglect is an issue
• The distance the parents live from one another
• Any additional factors that the court considers relevant to the child custody case at hand

When one parent has a very demanding work schedule, practically speaking, it increases the chance that the other will take on the primary custodial role, which means having more parenting time. When both parents are busy executives with demanding work schedules, however, it can support a more even split in which you’ll both need to address childcare when the children are with you.

If you and your ex’s work schedules are very different, it may play a primary role in how your child custody case is resolved. For example, if one of you works much later hours, the other may be better suited to overnight visits with the children on those days.

Complications that Executives Often Face

If you and your ex are both high-powered executives, your careers may take a lot out of you, which means you can both be spread a bit thin when it comes to parenting. Complications executives can face when it comes to child custody can include all the following:

• You likely have to work long hours, which can compete with your parenting time.
• You may have a harder time dropping everything to be with your children when they have to stay home from school or daycare or need to be picked up from school or daycare early – for the many, many reasons than children often do.
• You may need to travel frequently, which makes being there for your children according to a highly specific schedule more difficult.

Striking a Balance between Your Two Schedules

Orange County courts adhere to the belief that children are best served when they’re able to spend more time with each parent – not more time with the childcare provider that each parent has hired. As such, the judge will be interested in maximizing the time each of you spends with your children – according to your unique schedules.

If one of you has a more regular schedule in which you’re able to consistently be there for your children, your child custody arrangements are more likely to be lopsided – with the more available parent receiving additional parenting time. The Orange County judge, however, will work with the other parent’s schedule, to help ensure that they receive ample parenting time.

Child Support

While you and your children’s other parent are presumably both paid well, this doesn’t mean that child support won’t play a role in your child custody case. Your incomes are unlikely to match dollar for dollar. Factors that carry the most weight when it comes to child support include the amount of parenting time each parent receives and each parent’s income.

Even if your parenting time is split fairly evenly, the parent who earns more is likely to have a child support obligation. This is directly related to the fact that California requires each parent to support their children financially according to their ability to do so.

It’s Time to Consult with an Experienced Orange County Child Custody Attorney

Child custody cases tend to be complicated, and if you and your children’s other parent are both business executives, your case can be more so. The dedicated child custody attorneys at Minyard Morris in Newport Beach, California, are committed to harnessing the full force of their impressive experience and legal skill in the focused pursuit of a favorable resolution that protects your parental rights. Take the time to compare lawyers. In the same way that each client is different, each child custody lawyer is different.

We are on your side and ready to help, so please don’t wait to contact or call us at 949-724-1111 for more information today.