Greenwich Parenting Plan Lawyer

Children need moms and dads to play active roles in their lives, regardless of their marital or living situation. Parents who do not live together may benefit from negotiating a binding parenting and custody agreement centered on your child’s best interests. When parenting issues arise with your child’s other parent, whether you are divorced, in the process of divorcing or were never married to the other parent, you will benefit from discussing your parental rights with one of our qualified family lawyers.

Life changes can make the established parenting plan out-of-date or no longer workable, leading to a need for modification. Our team of compassionate Greenwich parenting plan lawyers might help you negotiate a parental responsibility agreement with a co-parent and modify such plans as your children age.

The Role of Parenting Plans

Parents in intact marriages or relationships often sit together to discuss their children’s schedules, needs, and delegate responsibilities for the coming week. This becomes difficult or impossible during or after a divorce or litigation involving the children and/or parental rights. Therefore, Custody Orders and Parenting Plans / Schedules are usually reduced to written separation agreements, or custody orders. Family Judges often require and encourage disputing parents to negotiate proposed parenting plans with a legal professional during custody and visitation disputes.

In every case involving children, the courts must approve all parenting orders and arrangements based on the child’s best interests. Drafting parental responsibility plans typically requires the parties to consider their respective roles, responsibilities and obligations to the other parent and to the children as well as their availability on a weekday and weekend basis to parent the children when negotiating, drafting and submitting these arrangements to the court.

Legal Requirements for Parental Responsibility Plans

Section 46b-56a of Connecticut’s family laws states that parents should develop care plans aimed at providing shared children with physical and emotional stability. Accordingly, state law requires co-parents include many provisions in a proposed parental responsibility agreement such as:

A recommended physical custody schedule over the calendar year (residential custody)
Decision-making authority over healthcare, religious, and education decisions involving the children (legal custody)
Dispute resolution provisions that may include agreements to bring disputes to a family counselor or legal practitioner
Penalties for violating the plan
Methods for modifying the plan as children grow and needs change, including any use of an attorney-mediator
Plans for protecting children from parental disputes, working together to enforce the agreement, and ensuring the child’s best interest

Using one of our Attorneys or Mediators to develop a shared parenting plan often benefits parents and their children by minimizing judicial intervention and shortening custody disputes. When co-parents cannot agree on certain aspects of visitation and custody, courts may require parental fitness examinations, home studies, or appoint a guardian ad litem to investigate and advocate for the child’s best interest.

Enforcing & Modifying Parenting Agreements in Greenwich

Family judges have the authority to establish, modify or terminate parenting plans based on the best interest of the child. Parents, social services, or interested third parties might all request that courts review an existing custody, visitation, and parenting agreement. Our dedicated legal professionals could help parents understand the major factors considered during modification hearings, including:

Allegations of parental abandonment, abuse, and neglect
The wishes of the children and parents
The stability of the child’s current home life
Any health, disability, or educational concerns
The parent’s ability to provide for the child’s wellbeing
The parents’ capacity to agree and work towards implementing the plan
Any manipulation of the children

Our dedicated Greenwich parenting plan attorneys could help interested parties petition to modify a parenting plan or defend against social service overreach. We could also serve as neutral guardians ad litem (GAL) for children, or attorneys for a minor child (AMC) during complex parental custody disputes.

Consult with Our Greenwich Parenting Plan Attorneys Today

Judicial intervention often lengthens custody disputes and may not result in the desired outcome for either party. Working with our qualified Greenwich parenting plan lawyers to develop a parental responsibility agreement may save you and your children from stressful, lengthy, and expensive custody litigation. Or if litigation is unavoidable, then our attorneys can navigate the process with and for you to ensure the best strategy is employed to achieve the desired results. Speak with our dedicated family negotiation team today to get started.