While a New Jersey family lawyer can help parents develop a child custody plan that works for both parents and children, the parents must make sure that the schedule works for the child. No two co-parenting arrangements are exactly alike; each one is tailored to the parents' and child's needs, and different parents face different challenges with co-parenting arrangements.
According to a recent Kansas State University study, the kind of relationship that former spouses have with one another may affect their ability to co-parent effectively. For instance, former spouses that described their relationship as “continuously contentious” also reported strong financial concerns, frustration at delayed child support payments, a history of control or abuse, and the inability to separate marital issues from the co-parenting situation. Parents in situations like these were also more likely to worry about the quality of the co-parenting arrangement.
Meanwhile, parents who reported that they had an amicable co-parenting relationship with their ex-partner also reported that they got along very well with their ex-partners and had a co-parenting arrangement that was beneficial to the children.
Finally, ex-spouses who reported “bad-to-better” relationships with their former partners said that the co-parenting agreement was initially contentious and hostile but improved over time. These study results demonstrate that the parents' relationship with one another often affects their ability to co-parent effectively.
New Jersey Family Lawyers Recommend Pre-Custody Counseling
In the Kansas State University study, approximately 45 percent of the parents surveyed reported “continuously contentious” parenting relationships, while only 20 percent reported “amicable” co-parenting relationships. Thirty-five percent reported “bad-to-better” co-parenting relationships.
These results suggest that many parents struggle with hostility towards each other, which affects their co-parenting relationship. To help parents work together effectively for the sake of their children, many New Jersey family lawyers recommend pre-custody counseling that focuses on co-parenting issues and solutions.
The New Jersey family lawyers at Helmer, Conley & Kasselman represent persons in divorce, child custody, child support, parenting time and other family law-related matters across New Jersey.
