Asheville Child Custody Lawyers

When addressing questions of child custody, North Carolinian parents should come to an agreement during conversations about their divorce. However, because not all divorces are amicable, we understand that there may need to be conversations held about child support and custody held either in trial or mediation.

North Carolina and courts prefer, when discussing child custody, to consider:

• The mental and emotional needs of the child
• The ability of applicable parents to provide for said child
• A parent’s history of child-rearing and mental well-being
• Appearance availability, in terms of work schedule, travel, and emotional competence

Parents will both have an opportunity to present an indication of their ability to parent. In turn, a court can assess these presentations and determine how custody should be distributed between the two parties.

The original distribution of custody is meant to best serve the child or children in question. However, a parent’s ability to be there for their children does not always remain consistent over the years. Over time, parents can lose jobs, experience shifts in personality, or find themselves otherwise unable to meet their children’s needs.

In such circumstances, both parents should have the right to bring forward concerns about custody. This is easiest to do alongside a child custody lawyer from Asheville. Concerned parents and other parties, including grandparents or personal representatives, can collaborate to discuss a redistribution of child custody.

For example, some parents can work to file custody alterations, particularly in circumstances where the other parent involved in the case may not be available to discuss the division of supervision. In other cases, two parties might have to go back into mediation or to trial to discuss alterations to their original agreement.

If you want to discuss your right to increased or decreased custody of a child, you must be prepared to present evidence detailing how you live your daily life. This means that you should be prepared to defend an estimate of:

• Your annual income
• Your expenses
• Your availability
• Your overall well-being

Similarly, you can work with an Asheville family law lawyer to present evidence suggesting that the custody awarded to the other party supervising your child is inappropriate based on that individual’s standard of living.

While you should not invade this other person’s privacy and can, in fact, be punished criminally for doing so, you can present lawfully-discovered evidence of inadequate parenting as proof of the need for an altered custody agreement.

While you can debate the need to alter your custody agreement without a divorce lawyer present, it is rarely in your best interest. There are, due to the complications of the law, opportunities for well-meaning parents to talk themselves out of their right to alter custody, if not custody in general. 

When you collaborate with an Asheville child custody attorney, however, you have a better chance of avoiding these legal pitfalls. Our attorneys can meet with you to discuss the nature of your original custody agreement and what forces have driven you to desire to change it. In turn, we can represent your best interests when we take your case before a judge.

What’s more, we make it easier than ever for you to negotiate with fellow parents. Instead of letting your emotions get the best of you in the middle of mediation, you can let us interface for you. This means that you can keep your custody renegotiation as stress-free as possible.