Ammon Nelson Law - Facebook Ammon Nelson Law - Twitter Ammon Nelson Law - YouTube Ammon Nelson Law - Instagram
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • FAQs
  • En Español
Ammon Nelson Law

Ammon Nelson Law

Visit North Carolina Website

Call For A Consultation

801.337.4355
  • Family Law
    • Divorce
    • Child Custody
    • Child Support
    • Spousal Support
    • Special Needs Children
    • Father’s Rights
    • Visitation Rights
    • Grandparents Rights
  • Divorce
    • Annulment
    • How To File
    • No Fault Divorce
    • Uncontested Divorce
    • Contested Divorce
    • Irretrievable Breakdown & Divorce
    • Division of Intellectual Property
    • Divorce By Publication
    • Equitable Distribution
    • High-Asset Marital Estates
  • Child Custody
    • How to Get Full Custody
    • Joint Custody
    • Relocation & Custody
    • Interstate & International Custody and Recovery
  • Child Support
    • How to Obtain Child Support
  • Spousal Support
    • Pre and Post Nuptial Agreements
    • Post Judgement Enforcement Modification
    • Orders of Protection
  • Estate Planning and Probate
    • Social Security Disability
    • Estate Planning
    • Personal Injury
    • Probate
    • Guardianship and Conservatorship

Divorce: Two Types of Custody

Home » legal custody

Divorce is complicated. Not only is the law extremely intricate, but the lives of each individual in a divorce are constantly changing. That makes a constant application of the law to the new facts necessary to properly understand your case. One of the most contested parts of a divorce is usually child custody. Child custody actually has two parts. Legal Custody and Physical Custody.

Legal custody is usually joint, meaning the parties share the legal custody of their child. Legal custody has to do with decision making and the sharing of information between parents. This means that in most cases, parents are required to work together to share information regarding their children and to work together to make major decision. Major decisions are decisions involving religion, education, and health. When parents cannot agree, the divorce decree should outline a process that the parents are required to follow before a final decision can be made regarding a major decision. Sometimes this requires consulting with experts like teachers, principals, doctors, clergy, etc. It may also include going to mediation. Ultimately, the courts can get involved if parents are unable to make a decision, or one parent is acting irrationally.

Physical custody is the other form of custody. This can range from one parent having sole custody to both parents having equal time with the children. Sole custody is outlined by state law and generally means the non-custodial parents has every other weekend and one midweek evening every week. However, if there has been child abuse, a long absence of the non-custodial parent, or substance abuse a non-custodial parent’s parent-time can be further limited in the best interest of the child. For the most part, a joint arrangement of some kind is created. Joint custody starts with the non-custodial parent having more than 111 overnights in a given year. The maximum time a non-custodial parent would have in a given year is 182 overnights. This would be a 50/50 arrangement.

Negotiating and writing these types of custody orders is extremely complex and requires an experienced attorney to ensure that the language actually says what the parties intend for it to say. If you have questions about custody, please call us for a free consultation!Ammon Nelson Law Divorce Attorney

Filed Under: News Tagged With: child, child custody, custody, divorce, divorce decree, legal custody, non-custodial parent, parents, physical custody, visitation

Child custody disputes are part of any divorce case where a married couple have children together and in any paternity action. You are probably familiar with the terms “Sole Custody” and “Joint Custody.” I have found that even though many people know these terms, they are not exactly sure what they mean. Throw in the term “Legal Custody,” and we have a giant mess. Let me help you untangle the mess with these hints about custody.

Physical Custody v. Legal Custody

Physical custody is the determination by the court about who the children will live with and how much visitation the other parent will have. Legal custody is the determination by the court about who gets to make major decisions regarding medical, education, religion, and other major events in the children’s lives. It also includes what information a “non-custodial” parent can have.

Sole legal custody usually means one parent (usually the parent with whom the children live) has the ability to make all major decisions for the children, and the other parent is simply entitled to information about the children (ie report cards, medical records, dates of events, etc).

Joint legal custody usually means that both parents must meet and discuss major decisions about the children before any decision is made. Sometimes it requires the parents to go to mediation if they cannot agree how to handle a certain situation with their children.

Sole Custody v. Joint Custody

Sole physical custody is where one parent has the children most of the time, and the other parent has only standard visitation (usually every other weekend). Physical custody is determined by overnights. That means that if a non-custodial parent has the children less than 111 overnights, the custodial parent has sole physical custody. If the non-custodial parent has more than 111 overnights, that parent has some form of joint physical custody.

Joint physical custody is often confused as being a 50/50 arrangements, where the parents have the children an equal amount of time. Actually, any arrangement where the non-custodial parent has more than 111 overnights is considered a joint physical custody arrangement. That means that there is a wide swing in how much time a non-custodial parent may have the children but still have joint physical custody.

If your head isn’t spinning by now, it will be as you try to negotiate a parent-time arrangement with the other parent. Ammon Nelson Law, PLLC focuses its practice on divorce and custody issues in the Ogden, Roy, Layton, North Ogden, Farr West, Harrisville, Farmington, Kaysville, Fruit Heights, and North Salt Lake areas. We can help you sort out custody and negotiate an arrangement that is not only good for you, but also for your children. If you have questions about custody, please give us a call!

CLICK HERE: Utah Guide to Divorce

Filed Under: News Tagged With: children, custody, divorce, farmington, farr west, harrisville, joint custody, kaysville, legal custody, ogden, overnights, paternity, physical custody, roy, sole custody

Five Things You MUST Know Before You Hire a Divorce Lawyer

Divorce can be one of the most stressful events in your life. Dealing with divorce for the first time can seem extremely overwhelming and stressful. If you are going through a divorce usually you feel uncertain about the future because you don’t have any experience with divorce or how it works. The internet is available to most people, so you can research divorce until you realize that you are in way over their head, and that you need some help. Let’s face it, divorce requires knowledge about child support, physical custody, legal custody, retirement plans, real estate, finance, tax law, and child safety laws, which lawyers spend years studying in law school. But how do you know which attorney to choose from? Here are five things you must know before you hire a divorce lawyer:

Attorney Personality

Many people go into hiring a divorce attorney with the misconception that they need a very aggressive, angry attorney in order to get the best deal in their divorce. These attorneys are sometimes known as “Bull Dog” attorneys. You should not hire a “Bull Dog” attorney for your case for two very good reasons: First, you have to work with this attorney. Your divorce is going to last at least three months, most likely it will go on for four to six months if not longer depending on whether you can reach an agreement or not. If you hire a “Bull Dog” you will have to deal with a “Bull Dog.” A lot of times this results in less communication from your attorney, less information about your options, less involvement in the strategy of your case, and less satisfaction with the result at the end.

Second, attorneys are all trained to negotiate and advocate. Family law is extremely broad and allows for a tremendous amount of flexibility to negotiate and settle your case, which in turn saves you money. When an attorney is too aggressive at the outset of the divorce case, it results in more arguing, more legal work, more hearings, and ultimately much higher fees. In the end, the result is the same as if you had just gone to mediation and resolved the matter there. Most attorneys are happy to go to court for you and advocate extremely well for you, but you also want an attorney who can negotiate a great settlement for you for the least amount of fees possible so you can move forward with your life.

Billing Rates

Attorneys usually bill their time in six (6) minute pieces. This is pretty common among all attorneys. What varies is their hourly billing rate and their initial retainer. These amounts are very important because they can have a huge effect on your case. A retainer in Utah means a deposit. The attorney takes this money up front, and then earns it over time. For example, if Attorney A bills $250.00/hour for his/her work and requires a $2,000.00 retainer, the attorney would need to work eight (8) hours to earn the full retainer. Because the retainer is more of a deposit, how much an attorney requires is not really that important.

What you need to know is that if you hire an attorney for $250.00 per hour, and your case takes 20 hour to complete, you will have paid $5,000.00 for your divorce. But, if you hire an attorney that bills $225.00 per hour, and your case takes 20 hours to complete, then you will only pay $4,000.00 for your case. That is a difference of $500.00. Keep in mind that the attorneys who charge you a higher hourly rate are not necessarily better attorneys or more experienced. They simply charge more for the same, or sometimes worse, service.

Experience

Experience is extremely important in a divorce case. Divorce law changes frequently, and because it is based mostly on fairness, the only way to know how a certain commissioner or judge will rule in a given case is to have argued in front of those commissioners and judges in the past. Many attorneys who are just starting out practice divorce law and many firms that claim to handle divorce law take the cases only because they need the income, not because they specialize in divorce cases. When you are interviewing attorneys, make sure to find out how much of their practice deals with family law, specifically divorces. An attorney who has practiced for thirty (30) years but only handles a couple divorces a year will be less qualified than an attorney who has practiced for five (5) years but has spent their entire career handling divorce cases. For example, at Ammon Nelson Law, PLLC, family law is all we do, and divorces make up a large percentage of our case load.

Free Informational Guide

When you are interviewing attorneys for your divorce case, make sure to ask them for their free informational guide. Don’t take their word for it that they know what they are talking about. It is easy to fake it for a thirty (30) minute consultation. If they know what they are doing, they will have a free guide that they can give you that reviews what you have discussed in the consultation or gives you additional information about divorce. Don’t take their word for it, get their informational guide.

Firm Structure

Divorce lawyers handle their offices differently. Some do not have secretaries and handle all of the work themselves keeping them so busy they are unable to keep in touch with their existing clients. Other lawyers have paralegals that end up handling most of your divorce case, while the attorney plays golf. Other lawyers are so busy practicing different areas of law, they forget all about your divorce case. Look for an attorney who handles all of his/her cases without the assistance of a paralegal, but who manages a smaller case load so that they will be accessible to you. You do not want a paralegal doing all of your legal work; otherwise you wouldn’t have hired an attorney. You don’t want an over-loaded attorney, because you want your case to get the attention it deserves. You don’t want an attorney who is busy handling cases other than divorce cases because you want to be a priority. It is better to get a voice mail once in awhile when you call your attorney with a return call from your actual attorney, then to have a paralegal answer your call every time just to tell you they can’t give you legal advice.

Remember these five tips when you are interviewing your divorce lawyer so that you hire the right attorney for you and for your case.

To Download the FREE Utah Guide to Divorce, CLICK on the Guide Below!

Filed Under: News Tagged With: alimony, attorney, child safety, Child support, custody, divorce, Divorce lawyer, Family law, lawyer, legal custody, physical custody

Ogden Location

2568 Washington Blvd., Suite 205
Ogden, UT 84401
Phone: 801.337.4355
Fax: 801.337.0737
Email: ammon@ammonnelsonlaw.com

Monday9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Wednesday9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Thursday9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
SaturdayAvailable for Emergencies
SundayClosed

Directions

Navigation

  • Family Law
  • Divorce
  • Child Custody
  • Child Support
  • Spousal Support

Follow Us

Ammon Nelson Law - Facebook Ammon Nelson Law - Twitter Ammon Nelson Law - YouTube Ammon Nelson Law - Instagram

2022 Ammon Nelson Law | All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy | Terms | XML Sitemap | Site by PDM