How can I get sole custody of my child?

[Aisley_01]

Hello all,

Hope everyone is doing well, I'm here to know whether it is possible to get sole custody of my child? What does a court judge look at when deciding custody?
One of my friends suggested that I should hire a PI for the custody case, How can a PI help me win the custody battle?

Looking forward to your answers, Thanks in advance!

 

[Taxing Matters]

Hello all,

Hope everyone is doing well, I'm here to know whether it is possible to get sole custody of my child? What does a court judge look at when deciding custody?
One of my friends suggested that I should hire a PI for the custody case, How can a PI help me win the custody battle?

Looking forward to your answers, Thanks in advance!

Why is that you want sole custody of your child and want to cut the other parent out of your child's life? What benefit is that to the child? That's important, because in court there are two important things you confront with this. First, each parent has a constitutional right to a relationship with their kid, and the kid has a right to a relationship with both parents. In order to cut off that relationship with one parent, you have to show that there are circumstances so significant that it overcomes those rights, like showing that the other parent poses a serious risk of harm to the child. If there was that kind of risk, I would think you'd have mentioned it here and that you'd have already seen a lawyer about this to protect your kid. So what is the relationship between the other parent and your kid? Second, the focus in any proceeding involving custody and visitation for a child is the child's best interests. You need to show that sole custody would be the best thing for the child. Notably if your reason for wanting sole custody is convenience for you, your own dislike of the other parent, or other things focused on you, that won't do it. This is not primarily about you, but about the child.

What you want to do is consult a family law attorney in your state, go over your situation, what goals you have, and why, and then discuss how likely it is that you can get what you want and what it will take to get it. If a PI would be helpful, the attorney can arrange for that. Note that in most cases a PI isn't really helpful. In some instances, though, it can be useful to go that route. But understand that hiring a PI won't be cheap. Nor will it be cheap to hire a lawyer to fight for you to get the sole custody. So if you really want to pursue this and the other parent is going to contest it, you better be prepared to spend tens of thousands of dollars to do it.

 

[Ohiogal]

Hello all,

Hope everyone is doing well, I'm here to know whether it is possible to get sole custody of my child? What does a court judge look at when deciding custody?
One of my friends suggested that I should hire a PI for the custody case, How can a PI help me win the custody battle?

Looking forward to your answers, Thanks in advance!

I agree with everything that Taxing Matters said to you. However even with sole custody, the other parent will still get companionship. Is this a married or unmarried parenting situation? How old is the child? What has been the custodial situation? Are there any court orders currently in place? How far away from each other do you live from the other parent? With whom is the child currently?

 

[stealth2]

Point being - more information is needed. Including the relevant state(s) - which is the question you conveniently deleted.

 

[zddoodah]

I'm here to know whether it is possible to get sole custody of my child?

In the abstract, and without any factual information whatsoever, it's possible. I'm not sure why that might be a useful bit of information, though. It's also possible that you'll win the lottery.

What does a court judge look at when deciding custody?

All of the relevant facts.

One of my friends suggested that I should hire a PI for the custody case, How can a PI help me win the custody battle?

Since you told us absolutely nothing about your situation, no one here could even begin to speculate about whether a PI would be helpful.

If you want useful feedback, you should concisely explain why you think "sole custody" might be appropriate in your situation and summarize the facts that are relevant to that conclusion (including the name of your state).

Why is that you want sole custody of your child and want to cut the other parent out of your child's life?

"Sole custody" does not necessarily mean "cut[ting] the other parent out of [the] child's life." Where one parent has "sole custody," the other parent may still have visitation.

 

[not2cleverRed]

Hello all,

Hello. Are you in the US? If so, then what state are you located in.

Hope everyone is doing well, I'm here to know whether it is possible to get sole custody of my child? What does a court judge look at when deciding custody?

There are situations where it is possible to have sole legal custody of a child.
Even if one has joint legal custody, there is usually one parent that considered the custodial parent.

Sometimes uneven arrangements arise because one parent has not asserted their parental rights or lived up to their responsibilities.

A court judge looks at "best interests of the child" in deciding custodial issues. What you believe are the "best interests' may or may not coincide with the judge's opinion on the issue.

If the other parent is interested in parenting their child, the judge will usually grant them parenting time. If there are concerns about the safety of the child, it is possible to get the parenting time supervised. The only times I know of where the other parent wanted parenting time and the judge ordered 0 parenting time, there was documented child abuse.

Of course, if the other parent isn't interested, that's another story.

One of my friends suggested that I should hire a PI for the custody case, How can a PI help me win the custody battle?

Looking forward to your answers, Thanks in advance!

If the other parent is a really bad person - like, they're a sex trafficker of children, and they want custody of the kid so they can employ them in the sex industry - then maybe a PI could help.

If they are just going to strip clubs, or drinking/doing drugs, but are sober when exercising parenting time, then that won't help you.