Considerations in Deciding Custody & Visitation

Our Skilled Child Custody Attorney in Cumming Can Help

At The Epps Law Group, we understand how challenging it can be to address the most sensitive issues in a divorce – often, how the best interests of the children will be served by the divorce settlement. Our Cumming divorce attorney has assembled a brief list of questions to reference as you move forward. Bear in mind that this list is simply meant to facilitate discussions regarding a child custody and visitation. It is not meant to serve as legal advice, nor are all the items listed required for any agreement. Please just use this list to formulate a rough outline of the terms of any custody agreement and visitation schedule; later those terms can be reviewed with the attorney at our firm.

Physical & Legal Custody

• Which parent will the child primarily live with, i.e., who will be the custodial parent?
• Will the parties share legal custody?
• Physical custody refers to where the child lives and who has responsibilities 
  associated with daily childcare.
• Legal custody is the decision-making responsibilities associated with the 
  education, healthcare and religious upbringing of a child.
• Which parent will have final decision-making authority if the parties cannot reach an 
  agreement on a certain decision?
• Will final decision-making authority be split according to what the issue is?

Tax Deductions

• Who will claim the child(ren) on their taxes?
• According the Internal Revenue Code, the custodial parent is entitled to the 
  income tax deduction
• However, the parties can agree otherwise, thus allowing the non-custodial 
  parent to claim the children on certain years.

Medical Insurance

• Who currently provides insurance for the children?
• Will that party continue to provide insurance?
• If the insurance will continue what must the insurance cover (vision, dental, medical, 
  etc.)?
• Are there any other requirements regarding maintenance of the insurance coverage?

Uninsured Medical Costs

• Will the parties split the necessary uninsured medical costs?
• If so what do the parties deem necessary?
• How will the split occur (generally the best way to do this is to use the percentages 
  determined by the child support worksheet, or simply split 50/50)?
• Must the parties consult with each other prior to obtaining treatment that is 
  uncovered, provided there is no emergency?

Childcare

• Which party will pay for any needed child care, or will that be split?
• Is there a cap on how much the party must pay?
• Who is authorized to pick the child up from day care?
• Who is responsible for ensuring that the other’s name is on a list of people who can 
  pick the child up?

Visitation

• For a standard visitation schedule, please see the attached example
• Are there any limitations on visitation?
• For example: No alcohol during visitation; no drug use during visitation; no 
  overnight guests who are not related by blood or marriage during visitation; the 
  child(ren) cannot leave the state, without prior approval by the custodial 
  parent, during visitation, etc.
• What is the visitation schedule?
• A normal visitation schedule generally consists of every other weekend and one 
  night per week (overnight or simply dinner time).
• Holidays:
• Christmas – how will you split this time?
• New Years – how will you split this time?
• Thanksgiving – how will you split this time?
• Labor Day – how will you split this time?
• Memorial Day – how will you split this time?
• July 4 th – how will you split this time?
• Generally alternating holidays every other year helps ensure sufficient 
  parenting time on these holidays for both parties.
• Summer?
• How much time will the non-custodial parent have during the summer?
• Will the time be consecutive or split?
• Will one party get to choose when the parenting time will occur, if so which 
  party, on which years and by when will they notify the other party?
• Birthdays, both the child(ren)’s and the parents? Determine whether and when parents 
  will each have visitation on these days
• Mother’s Day and Father’s Day – generally these are given the respective parent 
  regardless of the other visitation schedule. Please note if this is not acceptable.
• Any other special conditions concerning visitation?

Picking Up The Children

• Where will the non-custodial parent pick-up and drop-off the children?
• Who will cover the cost of travel if one party lives more than 30 miles away from the 
  other?

Moving

• If one party decides to move, how soon must they notify the other party?
• Will there be a renegotiation of visitation and custody if a party contemplates a move 
  outside the State of Georgia?

Child Support

• Please review the child support worksheet and provide all the necessary information in 
  order to allow a determination of the appropriate child support amount.
• The most important information includes:
• Gross monthly income of both parties;
• Child care costs (monthly);
• Health Insurance costs for child(ren) (monthly);
• Dental Insurance costs for child(ren) (monthly);
• Monthly costs for extracurricular activities.