What is child custody law?
Child Custody law is the law that relates to the parental responsibility for the guardianship and care of children. Often during the breakup of a relationship one of the major issues in the relationship is who is to care for the children. Often there is a dispute over who is suitable to care for children and what rights and responsibilities will be allocated to who in relation to the children of the relationship.
How does child custody law settle a dispute?
There is a strong bias in the law to settling child custody matters by agreement between the parties. This may mean that there is a agreement pursuant to the terms of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) or it may mean that there is a process by which the parties eventually arrive as a process of consent and agree on the orders that the court is to make. The orders which are made in this case are called consent orders. However, if consent cannot be achieved and the dispute reaches the stage of a full blown trial there is a legal system of rules which defines how courts are supposed to make what are called parenting orders.
The most important consideration for parenting orders is the welfare of the children affected by the orders. The court is duty bound to take this into account when they are making parenting orders. It is an aspect of the law that it is presumed that it is in the best interest of the children for the parents to have equal shared parental responsibility but this presumption can be rebutted by using some aspect of the persons lifestyle if they are unsuitable to parent children because of drug or alcohol abuse or a serious criminal history then the court can order that one particular parent be given sole custody of the children.
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