Roanoke, Virginia child custody disputes can be traumatic for both parents and children alike. While you are living with your children, you can see them 24 hours a day. When you are in the midst of a divorce or separation and do not have that same access, it is disruptive and unsettling.

It is always better for your children if you can negotiate a child custody arrangement with your spouse or the child's other parent. This isn't always possible, however. There are times when you need to litigate child custody, particularly if there are issues of domestic violence or abuse.

When litigation cannot be avoided you need to divorce lawyer to stand strong in your corner. With years of courtroom experience, you count on Roanoke, Virginia Attorney Wilson C. Pasley.

Wilson will use his experience to help you resolve child custody, visitation, and parenting plan disputes. As your attorney, he will help you seek the custody, visitation, and parenting plan that you want and that is in your child's best interests.
Below we have provided you with some basic information on custody in the State of Virginia.

Who Receives Custody
of the Children?
A court’s decisions with respect to Roanoke, Virginia child custody and visitation are guided by what is in the best interests of the child. Virginia law gives children the right to spend significant amounts of time with both parents. A court may award joint legal custody to both parents and sole physical custody to one parent, which is where both parents are responsible to care for and make decisions regarding the child but where the child mainly lives with one of the parents.

A court may also award joint legal custody and joint physical custody to both parents, which is where both parents are responsible to care for and make decisions regarding the child and where the child lives with both parents. A court may also award sole custody to one parent, which is where one of the child’s parents is responsible to care for and make decisions regarding the child and where the child lives mainly with that parent.

A court may award custody to someone other than the parents, who is called a person with a legitimate interest, if that person proves by clear and convincing evidence that it is in the child’s best interest for that person to have custody of the child. A court may alter its Roanoke, Virginia child custody or visitation decisions if there is a material change in circumstances justifying a change.

What are the
Child Support Obligations?
Under Virginia law, both parents must provide financial support to their children. Therefore, an appropriate amount of child support must be paid by any parent who does not have sole physical custody of a child to the parent who does have sole physical custody. The amount of child support as determined by the Virginia child support guidelines is the presumptively correct amount of child support that a non-custodial parent must pay. However, this presumption may be rebutted based on the factors in Section 20.108.1 of the Code of Virginia. A court may make a change to the amount of child support that a non-custodial parent must pay if there is a material change in circumstances justifying a change.

Emotional tensions in an unhappy marriage can make it difficult, if not impossible, for the average couple to deal coolly or objectively with divorce and separation. Roanoke, Virginia Attorney Wilson C. Pasley is ready to fight for your rights in of the law of divorce, custody, and related family law issues.