Who You Should Listen To In Your Child Custody Case

If you have a family law attorney or have consulted with a family law attorney, it’s probably a good idea to listen to your attorney about the rules and laws of your state, about your judge or the other side’s strategy.

The trap I see a lot of people falling into when they are going through a custody case is they start listening to their cousin or their best friend, maybe a co-worker or their new significant other. This causes a lot of confusion in the mind of the client and especially so when the client has hired an attorney to represent them in their case.

I bring this up because I have a client who I love and care about and have been working with her on her case for about a year.  In the course of the case my client met somebody.  He was someone who had gone through his own divorce and custody battle and has his own opinions about how things should be handled.

 And those opinions are not necessarily in line with my opinions.  And while I have never personally gone through a divorce or custody battle I have done close to a thousand of these during my 20 years as a family law attorney.  So now, not only do I feel like I have to battle the other attorney and please the judge,  but now I am having to undo what the third party, the significant other is telling my client.  She loves him and is in the honeymoon phase and wants to believe him and please him.  It is not only making my life difficult as her attorney is also increasing the cost of litigation for her.

The significant other will tell her one thing that is not consistent with what the law said should happen, so I have prove to my client why we should not take that course of action.

I am hoping because you are watching these videos that you are doing your research and that you know what the laws say and relying on what the laws say.  Also that you are consulting with ample sources about what to do in your custody case.   You have to follow the laws in your state and each case is different.   While many facts may be the same, the cases are different, the judges and circumstances are different. 

No two cases are alike.  And just because someone else’s case turned out allright it does not mean your case will.  You really need to play close attention to the circumstances in your case.  Bottom line if you have an attorney, listen to them because you are paying that person for a reason.

 If you don’t have an attorney, do research online.  The people in your life care about you and mean well but often times they can make things much worse in your case and cause confusion more than anything.   Also, listen to yourself and your instincts.  Don’t try to please people in your life which I know is easy to do, but when it comes to your kids do what’s in your gut even if you’re risking upsetting someone else.