5 Issues That Can Kill Your Long Island Child Custody Case

Your behavior can have a significant impact on child custody proceedings, particularly if custody has not been awarded or only temporary arrangements have been made. Here are 5 things that will compromise your Long Island child custody case and how to get help from a veteran New York divorce lawyer. 

#1. Domestic Violence Can Prevent You from Gaining Child Custody

If you engage in domestic violence or abuse, you will likely lose access to your children. This is especially true if the abuse is directed toward or witnessed by a child in your home. Unfortunately, even false accusations of domestic violence are enough to cause issues with your case. 

#2. Parental Alienation Will Not Help Your Child Custody Case

New York courts recognize that it’s in a child’s best interests to develop a meaningful relationship with both of their parents so long as it’s safe to do so. Parental alienation occurs when one parent attempts to turn the child against the other parent, or alienates the child from their other parent. 

If you talk badly about your ex around your child or attempt to make your child believe your ex is a bad person, you could face consequences for parental alienation. While not illegal, judges will take this into consideration when making custody and visitation decisions. 

#3. Drug and Alcohol Abuse Can Make You Unfit for Child Custody

When vying for custody or visitation of your child, it’s important not to abuse alcohol or use illicit drugs. Drug charges could result in you being found unfit to have sole or joint custody of your children, or you may be required to undergo mandatory, court-monitored alcohol abuse counseling to keep your parental rights. 

This doesn’t just apply to situations where you are found to be intoxicated by drugs or alcohol while the child is in your care; you could be faced with similar consequences even if you only abused alcohol or drugs while your child was in the care of your ex. However, this depends largely on the circumstances of the case and the judge’s ruling.  

#4. Being Late to Child Pickup or Dropoff Won’t Help You Get Custody 

You should always be on time to pick up your child from staying with their other parent, as well as when dropping them off. Leave early if you think there will be traffic and communicate with your ex via a co-parenting app if you will be late and why. Ideally, this will only occur in extenuating circumstances. 

If you fail to bring your child back on time, you could be charged with parental kidnapping, even if you had plans to bring your child back later. This could seriously affect your custody case and potentially result in only being awarded supervised visitation due to being deemed a flight risk. This means you will not have overnight or weekend visitation with your child; typically, supervised visits are a few hours at most. 

#5. Failure to Pay Child Support Will Hurt Your Custody Chances 

Although failure to pay child support alone isn’t enough for you to lose custody of your child, it’s not going to give the best impression to the judge presiding over your case. This will be considered along with any other potential matters that could impact your child custody petition. You should stay up-to-date on your child support and alimony payments, if the latter is applicable. 

If you don’t, your ex can bring an enforcement action against you, which will compel you to make payments. In some cases, your wages or tax returns may even be garnished until your financial obligations have been met. Additionally, the court will have the beginnings of a list of reasons why custody and/or visitation may not be awarded to you.   

Contact Veteran Long Island Child Custody Lawyers Hornberger Verbitsky, P.C. Today 

If you’re embroiled in a child custody battle with your ex and your parental rights are on the line, it’s crucial that you take action right away and reach out for assistance. 

At Hornberger Verbitsky, P.C., we understand how challenging child custody matters are for families going through the process of separation or divorce. Our commitment to our clients is to provide comprehensive, caring legal assistance from the start of a case until the final verdict. Contact us today to learn more about the benefits of working with an experienced child custody lawyer by dialing 631-923-1910 or fill out the short form on this page.