- Hire an effective lawyer:
Hiring an experienced lawyer will help take the pressure off of you and allow you to focus on your child. Navigating through the court system is difficult and an experienced lawyer can guide you through each step with confidence and ease. - Keep your personal life off of social media:
Keep in mind that anything you post on social media will come back to bite you in a court of law. It is never wise to put weekend partying or disparaging comments about the opposing party on social media or anything else that may be damaging to you. These things will negatively impact your custody case. - Keep your child as the focus of your life, not the focus of your fight:
Remember, your children absorb negativity and anger between parents. Try to keep the focus on your child and cherishing those precious moments, rather than about keeping tabs on the other parent or making your child a pawn in a nasty custody battle. Children can sense the tension and anxiety their parents feel. Being at the center of a contentious child custody battle can affect them for the rest of their life. - Remember that you must try to co-parent effectively if you hope to succeed:
Remember, when the trial is over, you still have to co-parent with your child’s other parent for your child’s entire life. Trying to maintain some civility will be the best outcome for your child in future years, even throughout their adulthood. - Stay positive and focus on your child’s best interests:
Stay positive for yourself and your child. Remember the polar star of child custody cases is what is in your child’s best interest. Consider how your decisions may impact your child such as school changes, moving to another city, moving in with someone else, or taking children away from friends and family. Those things affect children in many ways and can impact your court case as well.
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Joy M. Chappell
Joy is licensed to practice law in North Carolina and the Federal Court in the Western District of North Carolina. Her more than 25 years of experience in the legal field has served her well in that she has a compassionate client-centered approach to helping individuals and families obtain the best possible outcomes with their family law issues.
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