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Baltimore County Family Law Attorney Blog

Baltimore & Towson Lawyer Discusses Establishing You Were The Primary Caretaker

Written by Amar Weisman » December 18, 2015 »

Unfortunately, when parents make the decision to go their separate ways, a myriad of issues can arise, particularly with respect to child support and child custody. Depending on how well the parents are able to communicate and get along throughout the separation or divorce process, determining how much time each parent should be able to spend with their kids could be an area of serious contention.

Still, as your Towson family law attorney knows, it is important for all parties to keep the primary goal in mind – ensuring that the best interests of the children are taken into account. Make no mistake – custody battles can be tough to deal with and can last for long periods of time as the courts work towards making an appropriate determination with regard to the kids. That said, some experts believe that it may be beneficial for courts to closely consider the amount of time a parent spends with the kids, both after the breakup and when they were together.

Does Time Really Matter?

It is always in everyone’s best interest for a divorce or separation to proceed as smoothly as possible. In accordance with that effort, a study that was released a couple of years ago in Law & Psychology Review took a closer look at whether it would be helpful for the court (as well as the parties involved) to consider which parent spent more time with the children when trying to determine who should get custody.

The study proposed that consideration should be given to who performed various tasks like getting the kids ready for school each day, reading to them before bed at night, preparing their daily meals and other things. The point of looking at these areas of daily living was to demonstrate that if there was a clear-cut division of work between the parents, then it would be much easier for the court to determine who should spend more time with the kids once the divorce was finalized.

Sounds easy enough, right? Well, the study found that figuring out who really took care of the children was not as easy as anticipated. Why? Primarily because the parents could not agree on the simple facts. Did mom read to the kids every night before bed, or did dad? Did dad get the children ready for school in the mornings, or did mom? These should be easy questions to answer; however, the study showed that the parents almost never agreed on the number of times each performed the activity being discussed in the study.

More specifically, the study took a look at 94 parents during a custody evaluation that revealed that they were in total disagreement with respect to the amount of time spent performing their parental duties. Some of the parents included in the study disagreed about the amount of time they spent performing certain tasks with the kids, as well as who actually performed the tasks. As such, some of the parents would be inclined to discuss (or argue over) the amount of time spent with the kids in front of the kids – which, of course, is not good for the children at all.

All in all, the study revealed that quality over quantity may be the best approach to dealing with child custody and shielding the children from the constant bickering and bitterness that is often associated with divorce or separation.

If you are currently involved in a custody battle and you have concerns or questions about your case, contact the Law Offices of Amar Weisman, LLC as soon as possible.

Call For a Free Consultation With a Baltimore County Family Law Firm.

Call The Law Offices of Amar S. Weisman at (410) 321-4994 to schedule a Free Consultation. The Purpose of the consultation is to determine whether you want to retain this law firm as your Baltimore & Towson Family Lawyer. If you do wish to proceed, then you must pay a retainer. See Our Policy on Fees and Costs. The family firm is located next to The Circuit Court for Baltimore County, at 1018 Dulaney Valley Road, Towson, MD 21204.