Family Lawyer in Edmonton | Divorces With Children in The Marriage

Even though 40% of all marriages end in divorce, family lawyers Edmonton says 25% of these divorces involve children. And it is even more difficult to navigate a divorce or separation agreement when there’s children involved. Not only do parents have to figure out the child custody Arrangements. But they also have to figure out child support payments. The first thing that parents need to do, is figure out child custody because what’s the custody Arrangement is is going to alter what to the child support is going to be.

The first thing that family lawyer in Edmonton recommends from all divorcing couples. Is that they take their Children’s Welfare and hold it in the highest regard. They may not realize how their actions can negatively influence their children. And also, sometimes parents act out of fear, and end up making decisions that are not in their children’s best interest. But making decisions based on their fears of losing their children. Therefore, parents should always start all negotiations with their children’s interests in mind, so that they can end up with the best outcome for that child.

When couple is ending their marriage, or planning their separation agreement, family lawyer in Edmonton says they needs to take into consideration if there are any dependant children. What The Marriage Act considers a child of the marriage is the age of majority in the province. And in Alberta, that is 18. However, the child can be considered a child of the marriage if they are going to post secondary institutes. Or if they are unable to be removed from the care of their parents due to an illness or disability. Parents needs to understand how long they’re going to be considered a dependant so that they can create a child custody and child support Arrangement that is in their child’s best interest.

The next thing that parents need to do, is understand that the custody Arrangements that they come up with are going to affect their child support payments. While it used to be very common place for one parent, typically the mother to get sole custody of the parents. family lawyer in Edmonton says in the past 15 to 20 years, it’s becoming far more common place for parents to share the custody. What is legally considered shared custody is either a 50-50 split of the child’s time between each parent. Or a 40, 60% split. Anything more than that, and that is considered sole custody.

 It can be an overwhelming and emotional time for parents to navigate their own divorce or separation. However, family lawyer in Edmonton says that if there are children involved, it becomes much more important for parents to be level-headed, so that they can end up with an outcome that is in their children’s best interest. When they are able to come up with an arrangement that is best for the child, then the parents will ensure the mental well-being and the happiness of their toe , which should ultimately be the goal.

Family Lawyer in Edmonton | What To Do?

Parents who have decided to end the marriage, and have children have a difficult job ahead of them says family lawyer in Edmonton. Ultimately, they need to understand who the child is going to live with, whether it’s one parent, or both evenly. However, parents need to figure this out first, because what the child support payments are going to be will be factored into where the child is living. This can be very difficult, but parents need to understand that if they are having trouble navigating this overwhelming decision, there’s help for them.

The first thing that parents need to keep into their consideration, is that child support payments are federally mandated as long as one parent has sole custody of the child. If this is the situation, family lawyer in Edmonton says that there is no question about how a family is going to have to be mandated to pay child support. According to the federal guidelines, depending on the income of both parents, and the number of children equals what’s the child support that must be paid will be. This is a very  easy calculation to make. However it is only to be for basic child support, any additional expenses can be dealt with separately.

According to the federal guidelines of child support payments since family lawyer in Edmonton, the calculation is based on taking into consideration that that the custodial parent also is paying a certain amount for all of the basic necessities such as food, clothing and shelter. Therefore, when the non-custodial parent pays child support, the federal government’s then makes the  assurance that both parents are paying equally into the basic necessities of their children.

Other expenses are called special  expenses, or also known as section the seven expenses says family lawyer in Edmonton. These are extraordinary expenses that are actually shared by both parents. The calculation is in proportion to their income and can help pay for things such as braces, medical expenses, special schooling, extracurricular activities just to name a few. Since these extraordinary expenses must be shared by both parents, it is not paid by one parents to the other, but by both parents into a common pool.

If parents have decided to share custody of their children says family lawyer in Edmonton, then they can make child support Arrangements outside the federal guidelines. This is because if both parents are living with their child 50% of the time, they are both equally contributing to the food clothing and shelter of that child. They may be able to make any Arrangements they wish. However, family lawyer in Edmonton says that this eventually must court system, so parents need to understand that this is only on approval. If the courts do not agree with their Arrangements, they can ask the parents to go back to the drawing board and come up with something else.

it can be a very overwhelming situation to negotiate the terms of a divorce or separation says family lawyer in Edmonton. And this is made even more stressful with the inclusion of children. However, if both parents approached the situation with a level head, and with an Earnest to act in their child’s best interest always, they can end up with an agreement that is in the child’s best interest, which will help ensure that the parents will have a fair divorce for their children.