Child Custody & Visitation

Determining custody of children in a divorce is often the most emotional and difficult part for everyone involved. The Stafford County family law attorney of Wesley D Wornom, Attorney at Law, understands the difficult circumstances of divorce and listens to your concerns, tailoring our actions to the unique needs of your family. Wesley D Wornom works with you to find the best solution for you, your spouse, and most importantly, your children.

Many child custody cases can, with help from an experienced family law attorney Wesley D Wornom, Attorney at Law, be solved amicably. If a friendly resolution can’t be reached, we’ll fight on your behalf to get the matter resolved for you and your children as quickly and painlessly as possible.

If you’re going through a divorce and need help with child custody agreements, or weren’t married, and need help with a child custody agreement, then contact Wesley D Wornom, Attorney at Law today.

In Virginia, custody may involve legal custody and physical custody. Simply put, legal custody means who has authority to decide religious matters, educational matters, and elective medical care. Legal custody does not address the day-to-day decision making of a parent. Physical custody involves where a child resides. Usually, one parent will have primary physical custody with visitation granted to the other parent. It is also possible (but not common) to have shared physical custody, where the child or children are with each parent approximately fifty percent of the time.

In Virginia, child custody must be determined on a gender-neutral basis. This does not mean that mothers and fathers get primary custody an equal percentage of the time. In a traditional family situation, the mother is the primary caregiver. In some child custody case, this may or may not give the mother an advantage. There may be issues with the care given by the mother, or the mother may have engaged in recent conduct that may result in the father receiving primary custody of the child. Also, many fathers are very involved with the raising of their children. Involved fathers may have a good case for primary physical custody. In each case, the court must determine what is in the children’s best interests.

In child custody and visitation cases, the court must determine the “best interests of the child.” In making this determination, the court considers:

• The age and physical and mental condition of the child, giving due consideration to the child's changing developmental needs;
• The age and physical and mental condition of each parent;
• The relationship existing between each parent and each child, giving due consideration to the positive involvement with the child's life, the ability to accurately assess and meet the emotional, intellectual and physical needs of the child;
• The needs of the child, giving due consideration to other important relationships of the child, including but not limited to siblings, peers and extended family members;
• The role that each parent has played and will play in the future, in the upbringing and care of the child;
• The propensity of each parent to actively support the child's contact and relationship with the other parent, including whether a parent has unreasonably denied the other parent access to or visitation with the child;
• The relative willingness and demonstrated ability of each parent to maintain a close and continuing relationship with the child, and the ability of each parent to cooperate in and resolve disputes regarding matters affecting the child;
• The reasonable preference of the child, if the court deems the child to be of reasonable intelligence, understanding, age and experience to express such a preference;
• Any history of family abuse as that term is defined in the Code of Virginia or sexual abuse. If the court finds such a history, the court may disregard the factors the propensity of each party to actively support the child’s contact with the other parent; and
• Any other factors that the court deems necessary and proper to the determination.

Child custody and visitation cases cannot be reduced to a simple formula. Judgment and decision-making skills are required to determine the likelihood that a father or mother will receive primary custody. It is vital to know the law, the typical approach of judges in the court where you case is heard, and to have experience in litigating these types of cases. Wesley D Wornom has been an attorney since 1980 and a trial attorney since 1993. If you have a child custody case, contact the child custody attorney, Wesley D Wornom, today. We represent clients in Stafford, Spotsylvania, Fredericksburg, King George, Prince William and Fairfax, Virginia.