Child custody is by far one of the most contentious topics of family law. This is because it involves formerly married individuals who are trying to convince the judge to grant them guardianship. Yet, many of such people make decisive errors that ultimately lead them to lose the child custody battle against their ex. The amount of frustration felt is often quite significant, especially since most of these errors could have been avoided.

This article presents a few errors you should avoid making when trying to become your child's legal guardian:

Focusing more on your ex than on your child

When a marital union goes wrong, there usually is a lot of bitterness between the former couple. If the level of resentment that you have towards your ex is very high, you might be tempted to focus on showing the judge how bad of a person they are, rather than explaining them that your child's interests will be best served if you're their legal guardian.

If you really wish to undermine your ex's credibility, then make sure that whatever negative point you intend to bring up about them is directly related to their inability to raise your kid as well as you.

Missing one or more hearings

Child custody is a legal battle over which either party can take advantage of the mistakes made by the other. Since the child's best interests are at the center of the battle, failure to show up at an hearing will automatically signal to the judge that you don't love your kid enough to create time, and come to the court to explain why you would be a better legal guardian.

The battle will already be complicated enough, which means that you certainly don't need to do anything that might compromise your chances of victory.

Having an order of protection filed against you

If you've been threatening your ex too frequently, then they'll file an order of protection against you. While you might not view such a motion as a big deal, it's important to know that it'll make you look bad when seeking child custody.

Indeed, the judge will have more than one reason to think that because of your negative feelings, your kid's interests will never be best served. As a result, they might deny your request for child custody, because even if you're granted guardianship, you'll still have to maintain a decent relationship with your ex for your child's wellbeing.

These are errors that will make it hard for you to win the child custody battle. To learn more, contact a company like the Law Office of Jeffrey Dragon with any questions you have.

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