Custody Challenges for Never Married Parents
Co-parenting challenges will look very similar regardless of whether or not parents were ever married to each other. Never married parents can still benefit from the tools used by families who are going through a divorce. Find out how.
Issues in co-parenting relationships are comparable whether or not the parents were ever married. Never married parents often times face the same, if not more, child custody challenges as co-parents who had been married to one another. Tasks, like communicating, scheduling, and sharing information, are tough even in the most amicable of co-parenting relationships. The OurFamilyWizard website® is designed to be able to help with these common child custody challenges regardless of what your official marital status may have been.
When first establishing a child custody agreement, never-married parents must go through a few extra steps. Family courts in many states view married parents as being two parts of a whole. They see both parents as having equal rights to guardianship and custody upon divorce. In most cases, never married parents are not given this same treatment. The father of the child cannot be considered for child custody rights without first undergoing a paternity test. This is because family courts do not assume an unwed father to be the biological father of the child. Once paternity is confirmed, the father can issue a request for child custody and visitation rights. From this point, the court will determine the final child custody and visitation rights.
Once your child custody and visitation rights are established, you may find yourself with even more challenges as a co-parent. If your relationship with your child’s other parent is less than wonderful, maintaining a “business-like” form of communication is essential to keep things moving forward. Communication between co-parents is often one of greatest challenges after splitting up, and it often is the cause of the most conflict. The OurFamilyWizard® website provides parents with a solution to this common challenge. Using tools like the OurFamilyWizard® calendar can help you to maintain a “business-like” type of communication. This feature allows you to easily coordinate your shared parenting schedule online, eliminating the need for a more direct form of communication such as a phone call. Other features include the OurFamilyWizard® information bank and the OurFamilyWizard® message board. All features included in the website provide you with easy and effective ways to communicate with your co-parent, eliminating many of the child custody challenges between never-married parents.
By using the OurFamilyWizard® website, not only will you save plenty of money on legal fees, but you’ll also find that you have more time to dedicate to the important things in life. No more digging through hundreds of emails to find out the last time your child had their tetanus shot or to what time soccer practice was changed. You simply point, click, and share; co-parenting has never been so easy. Never married parents get the same access to information as a previously married couple, and are able to make use of the same tools. The OurFamilyWizard® website is making child custody challenges a thing of the past for never-married parents.
NOTE: Many state and federal laws use terms like ‘custody’ when referring to arrangements regarding parenting time and decision-making for a child. While this has been the case for many years, these are not the only terms currently used to refer to these topics.
Today, many family law practitioners and even laws within certain states use terms such as ‘parenting arrangements’ or ‘parenting responsibility,’ among others, when referring to matters surrounding legal and physical child custody. You will find these terms as well as custody used on the OurFamilyWizard website.