Plantation Family Law Blog

As you prepare for the divorce process, you're likely to have questions and concerns about the well-being of your children.

With so many benefits of gaining primary physical custody, you may find yourself interested in fighting for it. Here are some of the benefits to consider:

• More time with your children: When you have primary physical custody, you have more time to spend with your children since they live with you. Even if your ex has visitation rights, you'll get to see your children more often.
• The opportunity to receive child support: Depending on the circumstances of your divorce, you may be in line to receive child support. This will help you provide your children with a better life in the future.
• More control: When your children live with you, you have more control over what they do. For example, you can decide when they go to bed and how they do their homework. If you also have full legal custody, in addition to physical custody of your children, you don't have to work with your ex when making decisions regarding healthcare, religion and education among other important details.

If you have visitation rights with your children, you know how important it is to make the most of every minute you spend together. However, there could come a point when you realize that you need to change your visitation date or time.

Should you find yourself in this position, the first thing you should do is reach out to your ex-spouse. You can't make any changes until they first agree to them.

When you first tell your children about your divorce, they're likely to have concerns about the impact on their future. However, depending on their age, they may quickly put this out of their mind.

As things change down the line, it's important that you keep your children informed as to how child custody and visitation will affect them. Here are some things you should discuss:

• Where your children will live: For example, if you have physical custody of your children, let them know that they'll be sleeping in the same house as you, most of the time. This is also a good opportunity to discuss where you'll live, such as if your ex got the family house in the divorce.
• Visitation rights: Sticking with the example above, your ex may have visitation rights with your children. Explain this to the kids, letting them know what the schedule looks like.
• The impact on their life: This can include everything from where they go to school to how much time they have for their friends on the weekends. Not only should you discuss the potential impact on their life, but make it clear to them that you want what's best for them. Keep an open mind regarding their wants and needs.

It's difficult for any parents to transition from seeing their child virtually anytime to having to schedule when they're going to spend time with them. It can be helpful to have a third party step in and negotiate a custody schedule that may be amenable to both. How you should split up your time with your child varies greatly depending on their age and stage of development.

Infants and toddlers tend to instill a lot of trust in their primary caretaker. This is why long periods of separation between parents and their kids aren't ideal at this age. Your son or daughter may easily become depressed and develop separation anxiety if you're separated for a long time. This can lead them to have difficulty in developing relationships and regression on down the road.