Southaven Family Law Attorneys Helping Clients Who Are Filing for Sole Custody

Dedicated to providing high quality legal services for clients in Southaven, Olive Branch and Hernando for more than 50 years

Whether you are a parent who is divorcing your child’s other parent, or if you are and unmarried father and you are looking to get custody of your child, child custody is a sensitive area of law that sparks enormous conflict and emotional upset among all parties concerned.

At the law firm of Taylor Jones Taylor, the family law attorneys are committed to helping their clients navigate the difficult process of filing for sole custody of their child. The firm offers advice and guidance based on more than 50 years of experience helping the clients in Southaven, Olive Branch, Hernando, and throughout Mississippi resolve conflicts and come to a mutually beneficial solution.

Child custody arrangements

In Mississippi, child custody arrangements fall into two different forms: legal custody, which is decision-making authority for the child, and physical custody, which determines where the child lives. Joint custody is the general default arrangement because the courts prefer that both parents have equal access to spending time with the child. In joint custody arrangements, legal and physical custody are shared. The child usually lives with one parent and visits the other parent. Sole custody is the arrangement where the child lives with one parent full time and that parent has sole decision-making authority in the child’s life. Unless there are extenuating circumstances that are not in the best interest of the child for the parents to share custody, the court rarely considers awarding sole custody to one parent.

If a judge should grant sole custody to one parent, the other parent will still have visitation rights, and they will also have access to information about the child’s health, their educational progress, their extracurricular activities and any other vital information about their child.

In cases where the other parent’s behavior can be seen as creating a risk for that child to be alone with them, the court may require supervised visitation. The court may also require that the parent undergo mental health counseling or drug and alcohol treatment before they will be permitted unsupervised visitation with the child if those issues have posed a problem.

If a child has reached age 12 or older, the judge may choose to take the child’s preferences on which parent they would rather live with. The judge is under no obligation to order custody based on the child’s wishes, but they usually give them some weight when considering all other factors concerned.

As is the case with all decisions about child custody, the court bases all decisions on what will be in the best interest of the child. If you are a parent and you are pursuing a sole custody arrangement for your child, one of the family law attorneys at the law firm of Taylor Jones Taylor is ready to discuss your case.

Guiding clients in conflict towards workable solutions

Deciding child custody does not always have to involve a battle. The family law team at Taylor Jones Taylor can help make sure that you achieve your goals for child custody. You are welcome to call 662-342-1300, or fill out this contact form to schedule a consultation to discuss your case. The firm helps families just like yours throughout northwest Mississippi towns like Southaven, Hernando, Olive Branch, Horn Lake, Walls, Senatobia, and Coldwater. How can we help you today?