3 Benefits Of Creating Your Own Child Custody Agreement During Divorce

2 July 2015
 Categories: Law, Blog


Divorce is a difficult thing to experience. It is hard on the couple going through the divorce as well as for the children in the relationship. Whenever a couple with children decides to divorce, it can cause additional anxiety because there is the worry about child custody. You always hear about court battles over child custody, but that doesn't always have to be the case. You and your ex can create your own child custody agreement and bypass the court battle. Here are three benefits of doing just that.

1. It will save you both money.

The biggest benefit to you and your ex creating your own child custody agreement is that it will save you both money. Even if you don't care how it affects your ex's bank account, you can't deny that saving as much money as possible during the divorce is appealing.

It is estimated that a contested divorce (which is what your divorce would be if you battled in court over child custody) in Canada costs anywhere from a little over $7,000 to over $74,000. And that's just the cost for being in court. That doesn't include disbursements such as process serving and the motion for judgement. 

You can save a lot of time and money if you and your ex come up with your own child custody agreement and submit it to be included with your divorce proceedings. Even if you have to pay for a mediator to help you come up with a plan that you both can agree on, it will likely be cheaper than fighting it out in court.

2. You can include your children in the agreement process.

While they say that the court will always do what is best for the children when it comes to child custody, that may not always be the case. If your children are older and youh ave trusted them to make decisions for themselves in the past, then you can trust that they know what they need when it comes to splitting time between their parents. Sure, it is rarely going to be easy to accommodate everyone's needs, but you can make an effort to use some of their ideas when drafting the custody agreement with your ex.

Also, be sure to address any concerns your children may have about their new family dynamic. Again, this won't be easy for them. If they worry that you will not allow them to see their other parent as often as they would like, be sure to let them know that this is not the case.

3. You both have a better chance of getting things that you want.

In a lot of cases where child custody is decided by the courts, one parent benefits more than the other. However, when you sit down with your ex and create your own child custody agreement, you both have a better chance of getting the things you want.

Sure, this will require both of you to compromise on some things (i.e. alternating holidays every year instead of one parent always getting the kids on Christmas Eve and the other parent always getting Christmas Day), but it will be worth it if you can both say you got most of what you wanted out of the child custody agreement. Talk to a professional lawyer, such as a divorce lawyer Fort McMurray, for more information on how to create your own child-custody agreement.


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