Submitted by Siriano Bernstein on
Transcript
hi I’m Mark Bernstein I’m a divorce attorney in Westchester in Bronx County and today I’m going to discuss what you need to know about the child custody laws in the state of New York stay tuned hi I’m Mark Bernstein if you’re going through a divorce or considering a divorce and you have children and you want to know what the rules are for custody there are about ten factors but they’re three that are most important the first one is who’s the primary custodial parent what that means is what’s what’s the status quo who takes care of the child primarily now who’s with the child who stays with the child who brings a child to school if necessary who goes takes a child to the doctor etc so they they look at the the status quo and one of the theories behind that is the courts believe that if you’re a couple together and you’ve decided that one of the parents was going to be the primary custodial parent the court doesn’t want to change it they’re not going to micromanage that they want to keep things the way they are so if one person has been taking care of the child the courts gonna look very heavily on that the second point is which parent has more time to devote to the child that is based on work schedules for example if one of the parents works 40 50 60 hours and the other parent doesn’t work it’s very unlikely that custody is gonna be given to the working parent because the courts would rather have a child with the parent then a caregiver even a grandparent so they’re gonna give it to the person who has more time to devote the third point is understanding the needs of the child is it a special needs child does the child have some things that may need special attention whether it’s an educational deficit or they on certain medications who really has a better concept of what the child needs who’s who can the child turn to there is something called an in-camera conversation which is when the the child and the judge can talk in a room by themselves with the attorney for the child and the judge just ask him those does ask the child those questions who do you turn to who-who is more helpful to you so these things are important this is Mark Bernstein and that’s my answer to what are the rules of custody in the state of New York there are many more those are the three most important there are approximately ten rules, ten factors that are considered but those are the important ones if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me to set up a meeting.
