At the conclusion of a divorce in New Jersey where children are involved, custody of the children of the dissolved marriage can become at issue. When parties other than biological parents have exercised a parental role over children from a divorced household, custody can become even more contentious.

In most actions, primary residential custody of children is granted to the parent and litigant who was the primary caregiver of the children during the marriage. Thus, primary residential custody is customarily given to the children's mother, but child custody can be given to the children's father or an interested relative, under special circumstances. Such special circumstances usually involve but are not limited to: the adjudicated unfitness of the parents due to abuse or neglect of the children or the criminal conduct or substance abuse issues of such parents.
Child custody when granted to someone other than a natural parent, such as a grandparent, is presumed temporary unless a termination of parental rights occurs.

You need to look for a child custody attorney that has extensive history of handling difficult and contested custody disputes in New Jersey both between natural parents and interested relatives, including but not limited to, grandparents. Your attorney should work with well-regarded custody experts to conduct psychological evaluations of all parties to the litigation, to determine the best placement for the children in these custody disputes.

In instances in which an attorney is representing grandparents seeking custody of their grandchildren, attorneys have argued that such grandparents are the psychological parents of the children involved in the litigation and that granting custody to such grandparents is critical to the children's emotional development and continued sense of security. These cases require specific child custody expertise, as under current case law, grandparents do not have any affirmative rights to custody of their grandchildren over natural parents, absent extreme cases of abuse or neglect.

The New Jersey Courts have held that absent the circumstances above described, a natural parent can make a decision to exclude anyone from his or her child's life, including but not limited to: a grandparent or grandparents. Yet, if an individual is found to be a psychological parent of a child, such person is put on close to equal footing with a natural parent in terms of custody rights. A psychological parent is one that not only provides for the child's needs, but is a person to whom the child looks to for guidance and emotional support. The test of a psychological parent deals with who the child depends on to provide nurturing, love, and a sense of safety.

Author: Tom McMahon

About the author:
Tom McMahon, is estate & tax attorney at Pellettieri, Rabstein & Altman specializing in New Jersey estate and tax planning. For more information visit http://www.pralaw.com

Article source: Free Taxes Articles.