A recent story line on the TV show, Grey’s Anatomy focused on two parents in a custody battle after one parent decided to move far away and take the child along. On online forums, viewers discussed several particularly intriguing points. First, the parents had joint custody and apparently were doing very well with a flexible schedule. Second, the case involved two women who had previously been domestic partners. The one planning to move across the country was the biological parent. The other had legally adopted the child. A family lawyer in Suffolk County NY could probably have guessed how a judge would rule as long as neither parent was unfit and both had effective legal representation.
Some individuals on message boards expected the biological mother to receive sole physical custody simply because she was the child’s natural mother. Others responded that this discounts the legal parenthood of adoption. Often in real life, both parents are adoptive parents, but it does happen that a person marries someone and that individual adopts the person’s child or children, taking on legal obligations, responsibilities and rights.
A family lawyer in Suffolk County NY may have predicted that the judge would rule in favor of the adoptive parent, all factors being relatively equal. That’s exactly what happened. A judge is supposed to issue a ruling that is in the best interests of the child. In this case, the little girl would have been moved away not only from her adoptive parent, but from her school, friends and entire support system that she was accustomed to. What the future would entail by moving out of state was entirely unpredictable.
A legal parent who currently has shared custody but is facing a situation in which the other parent is demanding to move away and bring the child along needs an experienced family attorney. He or she does not want to risk having the ex-spouse or partner move away with the youngster. In the case of the TV show, the biological mother used tactics such as attempting to undermine the adoptive mother’s parenting fitness. Having an attorney such as Patricia Issberner can be essential for overcoming those types of accusations. Browse our website for more information.
