Legal Issue

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Introduction
It is a fact that most marriages, especially in the United States, end in divorce (Corcoran, 1997). A further sixty seven percent of second marriage unions end up in divorce too. Therefore, going from the above given statistics, it is important to note that most children and to be specific, about fifty percent, are born of divorced parents while a further twenty seven percent are born of parents who were never married (Corcoran, 1997). It has been found to be the trend in most divorce cases, that women as opposed to men initiate the proceedings twice as often. In addition, they are more supportive of the children than men.
Most couples are not usually aware of the dangers or repercussions of divorcing each other until they get to the legal expectations required of either of them by the law. For instance: child support, the right to visit the children, custody of the children and other relevant legal perspectives of divorce. As a result of this ignorance, many fail to properly understand their rights and may end up getting the worst deal out of the settlement. More often than not, mothers usually get custody of the children even if it was not awarded in court (Corcoran, 1997). The purpose of this paper is to explore the legal perspectives of child custody in an effected divorce scenario, with critical analysis and discussions as pertains to it.
How Do Courts Decide Who Gets the Children’s Custody?
It is a common practice in almost all courts, that the statement, best interests of the child, is applied in most divorce cases in deciding who to grant priority in the issue of child custody (Nolo.com, 2011). A lot of factors are considered by a court in deciding the right parent to award custody of the children. Some include: the age of the child, physical and mental health of the parent, history of child abuse and other distracting social factors such as smoking, ability of the parent to provide sound guidance to the child, ability of the parent to provide food, shelter, medical care and clothing, and finally, the child’s preference, which is more often than not related to the impact of the divorce itself on the child. The above given factors are some of the guidelines used in identifying the right parent best suited to articulate the best interests of the child and foster its relationship with the other parent (Nolo.com, 2011).
In the past, most courts awarded child custody to the mother as opposed to the father on basis of the child’s age bracket. However, in recent times, many courts have been constantly rejecting this basis and instead, award custody in relation the best interests of the child. This means that the gender of the parent is not an issue and that custody may fall to any parent who qualifies according to the guidelines explained earlier (Nolo.com, 2011). If we assume that this is the case, why do many mothers end up getting child custody after all? This question is usually more personal than general. Divorce analysts have in many cases, deduced that the parents either come to an understanding that the mother should have custody and the father should only exercise visitation rights, or that the father agrees to the fact that the mother has more spare time and is more oriented and thus better qualified to be the custodian. It may also be because many mothers seek custody tenaciously than men. Whichever way one chooses to look at it, the best interests of the child is always the first priority (Nolo.com, 2011).
Forms of Child Custody (Joint and Sole custody)
They are the most common in many divorce cases. Joint custody basically refers to an arrangement provided by a court, which awards custody of the child jointly to both parents (Divorcesource.com, 2011). It generally means that the child has two custodial parents. Joint custody is divided in most cases into either joint physical custody or joint legal custody. In joint physical custody, the parents both exercise their parenting roles and the child is provided with constant interactions with both parents. Joint legal custody on the other hand, provides for equal decision making conditions for both parents in determining the welfare of the child. It is possible for both parents to have joint legal custody of the child, but for one to reserve sole physical custody of the child. This would make either of them a custodial, or a non-custodial parent depending on the court’s decision.
Sole custody of the child can be defined as an arrangement provided for by a family law court that pronounces only one parent as the sole physical and legal custodian of the child. In such a scenario, the term visitation is usually associated with the other parent who has limited leg...