Imputed Income for Child Support Determinations

In calculating how much child support should be paid to the custodial parent of a child, a count may consider not only how much money a parent is earning at the time of the hearing, but also certain other income and benefits, which the noncustodial parent routinely received during the months and years prior to the date the court makes its determination.

The Parental Preference Standard in Custody Disputes

A parent has a constitutional right to raise his or her child. That right is recognized in child custody proceedings by the "parental preference" standard. The standard, which is also known as the unfitness or extraordinary circumstances rule, requires that in a child custody dispute between a child's parent and a non-parent, placement of the child with the parent is preferred. Some courts have concluded that parental placement is in the best interests of the child. However, if the parent is unfit to parent the child or extraordinary circumstances exist that caution against placing the child with the parent, then custody of the child could be award to a non-parent.

Custody Enforcement through Sanctions

Where a person has been awarded the custody of a child and another person or agency has failed to return the child to that person, the person with legal custody can file a motion for contempt of court and request that some penalty or sanctions be imposed on the one who unlawfully failed to return the child.

Putative Father's Right to Custody vs. Non-Parent

Recent years have witnessed a number of changes in the nature of marital and other domestic relations in the United States, with a concomitant modification in public attitudes toward such things as the status of children born outside of marriage. These changes have been accompanied by an evolution in the way in which the legal system views a number of issues related to family law. One such group of issues concerns the right of a putative father, that is to say, a man who is supposed or reputed to be the father of a child or children born to a woman to whom he is not married, or who claims to be the father of such a child or children, to assert an entitlement to custody of or visitation with such a child or children.

Child Custody Mediation

Mediation is one of a number of processes, known collectively as alternative dispute resolution or ADR, which are available for use by parties who have disagreements with one another that have traditionally been handled by the formal procedures of the legal system, but who wish to avoid the formality and expense of a court proceeding in seeking to resolve their differences. Unlike another well-known alternative dispute resolution process, arbitration, in which parties present the same types of evidence and adversary arguments they would employ in court before one or more disinterested third parties known as arbitrators, who then make a decision called an award that is generally binding on the parties to the dispute, the parties to a mediation procedure, with the assistance of a disinterested third party called a mediator, attempt to reach a voluntary agreement settling their differences between themselves. Mediation has recently received increasing attention as a method of resolving disputes in a number of areas of the law, including child custody cases and other family law matters.