Category Archives: Child Custody

Over the course of a decade, the number of grandparents assuming parenting responsibilities by caring for their grandchildren has doubled. The numbers of affected children increased from 2.4 million to nearly 5 million between 2000 and 2010.

Arizona grandparents may require assistance as they face this stage of life, especially if the situation is unexpected or contentious. In many cases, this parenting role is thrust upon grandparents due to negative issues in the lives of the biological parents, and high-conflict custody situations can be among the stresses experienced. Financial challenges can also arise as childcare responsibilities are assumed during retirement years.

As you may already know, some child custody cases seem to drag on forever. This is usually due to everything from court delays to contentious disputes over the finer details of a custody agreement. But in some cases, arrangements can take longer than expected because parents want to make sure that the arrangement is in the best interest of the children.

Fans of the talk show “The View” can probably think of a lot of ways to describe host Sherri Shepherd but ‘neglectful’ probably isn’t among those terms. But this exactly how her ex-husband described her in his request for full custody of the couple’s 9-year-old son. And it’s because of this scathing accusation that she could face problems with her estranged husband as well.

As many people here in Arizona know, child custody cases can become a major source of contention. This can be especially true if the question of paternity and parental rights is at the center of the issue. But while some cases can find resolution in a state’s lower courts, some are not as simple and require the help of higher courts that may offer better guidance in the case.

Arizona, as well as many other states, is finding that shared joint custody is becoming more and more popular in divorced families. Attorneys can help parents work out creative visitation schedules that give both equal time with their children. While this is good for most children, a problem can arise when parents have completely different parenting styles.

In many divorces, the single most contentious and emotional issue is who will raise the divorcing couple’s daughters and sons. This means that there is often acrimony in child custody cases, as soon to be divorced husbands and wives struggle to get the parenting arrangement they want. A spotlight has been shown on this struggle in a new film called “Romeo Missed A Payment,” which has interested viewers in states like Arizona.

Parents who get divorced face many special challenges. Coordinating activities and establishing a parenting schedule is a new experience for many, as things were simpler in some respects when everyone lived in the same household. The marriage is over, and while there may be lingering animosities and resentments, both parents need to find ways to cooperate and work together for the good of the children. A program being offered in Yuma County, Arizona, may prove helpful to some divorced parents.

Members of the Cherokee Nation Indian tribe have been concerned about the fate of tribal children, in some instances placed with non-members of the tribe. On one recent case, a Cherokee man thought that under the provisions of a federal law known as the Indian Child Welfare Act that he should have had a preference and protected right to have child custody of his daughter. Instead, she wound up being placed in the home of a non-Indian family and the courts upheld this.

A father is arguing that his daughter, soon to be 6 years old, was placed for adoption with the mother’s out of state relatives without his knowledge or consent. Even before the child was born, he filed papers to seek paternity. Now, he is continuing the battle to seek sole custody of the child. Many in Arizona have watched the long-term child custody battle unfold in neighboring Utah, where the child has lived with her mother’s relatives.

A couple’s two daughters are currently the subject of a battle between a mother, now in Mexico, and the father, living in Arizona with the children. The most recent development in the child custody dispute involves a federal appeals court ruling that the children, at least for now, should stay with the father in Arizona. The court rejected the mother’s argument that an international convention addressing the subject of child abduction gave her an unquestionable right to have the children returned to her in Mexico.