Answer:

I was meeting with a client prior to our trial the other day. A very important question arose about how the judge is going to determine what custody arrangements are set for these parties. In Georgia, any custody action has to be looked at under the lens of several factors that the statute actually recognizes for us and tells us what those are. It makes it fairly easy for us to walk through the judges’ evidence and make sure that we’re giving what they need to make that decision.

It’s a long list of factors. Anything from your relationship with your child, the bond that your child may have with you or the other parent, whether there are half or stepsiblings in the other residence, where maybe that child is really connected and has a great bond with a brother or sister in another household. That can be considered. Any prior history of alcohol, drugs, abuse, neglect, domestic violence even between two parents who may not be in the residence with the child but just that there may be domestic violence occurring, the judge wants to hear about those things as well and will make a decision based on those factors and circumstances that we’re going to outline for the court what’s in your child’s best interest.

Ultimately, if there’s a piece of evidence that is relevant and presented to the judge, he can consider that piece of evidence and make a determination and weight those factors any way he’d like. If for some reason, he’s maybe a grandparent, he’s going to say, well, these parents are going to ensure that the grandparents are involved in this child’s life. That’s very important to him. He may weight that factor more seriously than another judge may consider that.

It’s important to be represented by an attorney who knows the judge on the bench because, ultimately, those judges are going to decide these cases differently. They need to be presented differently. That’s one benefit I’ve had in our office involved is we have a lot of experience in front of a lot of different judges.

We can tell you what facts and circumstances you may have that may be more relevant or more beneficial to your case in front of that particular judge. If you have any questions or are going through a custody battle, or want to file for custody, or a modification of your custody papers, please give us a call. We’ll bring you in for an appointment and make sure that you know who your judge is and what kind of evidence you would need to make sure that your custody action is successful.