Oklahoma divorce information

Divorce is a stressful time for all families in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is a time of intense feeling and many questions and uncertainties.

If children are involved, the matters of child custody and support must be addressed and resolved prior to the end of the divorce process. There are two types of custody in Oklahoma.

Physical custody refers to time that a parent is physically with a child. Physical custody in Oklahoma can be either joint or sole custody.

Legal custody refers to decisions made about a child’s activities, health care, religious upbringing, schooling and the like. Legal custody in Oklahoma can also be either joint or sole.

What is Legal Custody in Oklahoma?

Since a child may not legally consent, the parent or parents who hold legal custody for their children may consent for them.

The holder of the custody may consent to such things as health care on behalf of the child, or may consent to a school field trip. That parent can make decisions about the child’s religious upbringing. A court may award a parent sole legal custody or joint legal custody.

Factors For the Court to Consider

In deciding matters of custody, the court will look to a number of factors before making a decision about whether to award sole or joint custody to the parent or parents requesting it. First and foremost, the court will look to the issue of what is in the best interests of the child.

This may include looking at the desires and needs of the child, the presence or absence of violence and substance use and abuse in the home, the stability of the parent or parents seeking custody, and the presence or absence of support services.

If the court determines that a parent has a substance addiction, it is likely that the court will less likely to award custody to the addicted parent. The presence of an addition creates a presumption that the parent is not fit. The presumption can be overcome by evidence to the contrary. The court may also order that parents undergo chemical testing or an evaluation during the custody process.

In addition, in determining whether to award sole or joint legal custody, the court may look to see whether the divorcing couple can continue to work amicably to advance their child’s best interests. If they cannot, then it might be better for one parent to retain sole legal custody in Oklahoma.

Low-cost Initial Consultation: Tulsa Child Custody Attorney

Your choice of a Tulsa divorce attorney is critical, especially regarding any issues about custody in Oklahoma. Before you retain our family law attorneys, you are invited to have a initial, confidential, no-obligation consultation to help you determine whether our family law services can meet your particular needs.

For a initial consultation with a Tulsa child custody attorney about your concerns, call the Divorce Law Office of Tulsa today at 918-924-5526.

As parents move toward a divorce in Tulsa, there are many decisions to be made. Some of the most difficult decisions to be made concern the children in the marriage.

Physical custody in Oklahoma refers to caring for the child when he or she is with you.

Defining Child Custody in Tulsa

Custody refers to all of the duties and obligations that a parent has toward a child: to shelter, feed, and clothe a child; to provide an education and take care of a child’s medical, dental, and other needs, and to nurture that child toward adulthood.

There are two types of child custody under Oklahoma law: physical and legal custody.

Likewise, custody — whether physical or legal — can be shared by the parents or one of the parents may be in charge of those duties (sole custody).

What is Physical Custody in Oklahoma Family Law?

It is the type of physical custody held by the parent that dictates the breadth and depth of their duties with regard to the child. If you and your ex-spouse share physical custody in Oklahoma, that means that the child lives with each of you for some part of the year and you each share in the daily lives and decisions regarding your children.

This might mean that your children spend a week in your home and then a week in your ex-spouse’s home on an alternating basis. This might also mean that your children live in one house and you and your ex-spouse trade time living in the house with your children. In either case, it probably means that you and your ex are able to work together toward your the care of your child or children.

If either you or your ex-spouse has sole physical custody in Oklahoma, that parent is usually referred to as the custodial parent. The child lives with the custodial parent, perhaps for much of the time, subject to reasonable visitation or parenting time by the non-custodial parent.

When the child is with the non-custodial parent, that parent has physical custody during the time child spends with that parent, but the non-custodial parent must respect the other parent’s decisions with regard to schooling, healthcare, and religious upbringing.

Additional Considerations

The custodial parent generally may not interfere with the activities engaged in by the non-custodial parent during that parent’s time with the child.

If you are the non-custodial parent, you have physical custody of your child during that time. However, that custody has some limitations.

For instance, a non-custodial parent may not seek to undermine the decisions made by the custodial parent. The custodial parent could challenge your right to visitation or other parenting time if you undermine or severely interfere with the custodial parent’s wishes, such as denying certain healthcare directives, keeping a child out of school or even aggressively undermining a parent’s religious instruction.

Low-cost Initial Consultation: Tulsa Child Custody Attorney

Your choice of a Tulsa divorce attorney is critical, especially regarding any issues about physical custody in Oklahoma. Before you retain our family law attorneys, you are invited to have a initial, confidential, no-obligation consultation to help you determine whether our family law services can meet your particular needs.

For a initial consultation with a Tulsa child custody attorney about your concerns, call the Divorce Law Office of Tulsa today at 918-924-5526.

As much as we may not want to look at the issue of a child visitation schedule Oklahoma, it is an essential part of any Tulsa divorce involving children.

The Tulsa family court, together with the separating parents, will craft a schedule to determine how much time each parent will spend time with their child.

The aim of a child visitation schedule Oklahoma is to ensure continued regular contact with each parent.

A Child Visitation Schedule Oklahoma Allows Shared Parenting

The term “visitation” has come into some disfavor over time. It connotes a parent who is not fully involved in the raising of a child. As such, some parents like to refer to visitation as shared parenting time; some even refuse to call their parenting time visitation.

Oklahoma has developed a set of guidelines regarding the development of parenting plans. (Okla. Stat. tit. 43, § 111.1A)

In crafting a child visitation schedule Oklahoma, the court takes many variables into consideration, including: school schedules, summer vacation time, midweek and weekend time-sharing, contact with extended family members, parents’ work schedules, and any travel requirements associated with visitation.

The goal is for the schedule to work in the best interests of the child, and the court prefers that parents mutually work together toward that goal. If the parents cannot do that, the court will impose a child visitation schedule Oklahoma.

The goal is for the child to continue to have meaningful relationships not only with each parent but also with the extended family of each parent. Parents are encouraged to work together to allow children to attend family functions that include extended family. Therefore, the schedule must have some flexibility to adapt to important events and changes in the parents’ lives as both occur.

The schedule may also need to be adjusted as children grow and their needs change. A child visitation schedule Oklahoma for a toddler may look somewhat different than a visitation schedule for a school-aged child or for a teenager.

Your Child’s Age May Make a Difference

The younger the child, the more need for frequency and consistency in visitation. Young children need to learn to trust multiple caregivers.

If too much time goes by between visits, that bond can be interrupted. This may necessitate a child visitation schedule Oklahoma that allows the non-custodial parent to have more frequent visits rather than a schedule of alternating weeks with parents.

As the child moves into schooling, it is more important that the visitation schedule work in conjunction with the school schedule. Most schedules will allow alternating weekend sharing between the parents. This can be done on a rotating basis, or by scheduling specific weekends for the parents.

Most schedules do not specify a mid-week visitation at this age, but there are reasons to ask for a mid-week visit. It can be especially helpful for younger school-aged children to have a regular weekday visit that they can count on with the non-custodial parent. This can create some economic difficulties for the parents, so courts may not choose to order it.

Low-cost, Confidential Child Custody Consultation

For a low-cost consultation about negotiating a child visitation schedule Oklahoma or other family law matters, call the Divorce Law Office of Tulsa today at 918-924-5526.