Practice / Custody
The children’s best interests, weighted by the factors.
Custody decisions are about the children, and the standard the court uses is the children’s best interests, weighted across statutory factors. We start every custody file by walking through the factors that apply to your case, in plain language, before any filing goes to court.
The statutory factors
Plain-language walkthrough before any filing.
The state’s custody statute lists twelve factors the court weighs to decide best interests. We walk through each one with you at the first working meeting and tell you, candidly, which way it cuts in your case. The conversation is uncomfortable. It also tends to narrow the dispute by 60% before a single document is drafted.
- Primary caregiver historyWho has done the bulk of the parenting day-to-day.
- StabilityHousing, school, and routine continuity.
- Each parent’s capacityMental, physical, financial.
- Cooperation historyEach parent’s willingness to support the other relationship.
- Child’s wishesWhere age-appropriate (typically 12+).
- Allegations of harmSubstantiated or pending. Different evidentiary track.
Initial vs. modification
Two different bars.
Alongside divorce or standalone.
Filed with the divorce petition, or as a standalone parentage matter for unmarried parents. The court is writing on a blank page; the statutory factors decide.
Median $5,800 attorney time
Substantial change required.
Requires a substantial change in circumstances since the last order. Higher bar than the initial. We’ll tell you honestly whether your facts meet it before you spend the retainer.
Median $4,200 attorney time
The first working meeting
The factors, at the table, before anything is filed.
The twelve statutory factors are easier to read on a page than to live through. We sit down and walk each one against the facts of the case in plain language. It’s the conversation that narrows 60% of disputes — the one that 102 of 110 custody files since 2018 settled before a contested hearing because of.
Parenting plans
Tight schedules. Explicit defaults.
The plan is the document the court approves and orders. The schedule covers regular weeks, school breaks, holidays, and summers. It also covers decision-making — major medical, religious upbringing, schooling. We draft tight schedules with explicit defaults so the parents don’t have to re-negotiate every Thanksgiving.
The thing that ends up back in court two years later is the holiday clause that says “to be agreed.” We don’t draft “to be agreed.” We draft “Thanksgiving in even years with Parent A; in odd years with Parent B; pickup at 9am at Parent B’s residence.” Sara Lin, Associate