A dozen factors are taken into consideration by the court while making a custody decision. These factors assess the child’s level of stability. What exactly qualifies as a stable home? You as a parent need to be a source of trust for a child. Possessing what they require at the appropriate time is the most trustworthy thing.
Click here to watch the video on What Is Considered An Unstable Home For A Child In Michigan?
A parent missing visitation is a sign of an unstable home. Guests who do not act as a parent figure, such as boyfriends or girlfriends. Kids aren’t given any direction. Children need to understand they are in a secure and healthy environment. Your chances of getting custody of your children may be jeopardized in the absence of stability.
A Child’s Established Custodial Environment
A custodial environment may be established if, over a “appreciable” period of time, the child has grown close to a parent or another adult in whom he or she receives discipline and teaching, looks for direction and support, and who also meets the child’s needs and provides “parental comfort.”
The stability of the bonds between parents and children will typically determine whether an established custodial environment exists. Age of the child, the physical setting in which a parent or custodian has provided care for a child, and the feelings shared by the parent and child regarding the nature of their relationship are all things you could take into account.
It is crucial to understand that just because a child lives with a parent, it does not automatically imply the parent has an established custodial environment in place.
Even while a parent may have custody, it does not necessarily follow the child will exclusively seek out the parent for parental comfort, advice, and discipline. Because they have given the child direction, discipline, basic necessities, and parental comfort, both parents may have built a custodial environment with the child.
This custodial environment brings comfort and stability to children. The court gauges and measures the depth and quality of the custodial environment as a way to help decide on custody and parenting time issues.
The Unfit Parent Creates An Unstable Home
A parent is seen to be an unsuitable parent by the law when they fail to provide their children with the proper guidance, care, or support through their actions. Additionally, a parent will be ruled unfit if they have a history of abuse, neglect, or substance misuse.
Child Protective Services or CPS in Michigan is typically involved in cases where a parent is found to be unfit, and there may be a safety plan or an open, ongoing investigation against the parent.
Parents who are divorcing may not agree on child custody matters or may not trust the other parent with the children.
Never criticize your spouse in front of your child. In addition to damaging the children’s vulnerable psyche and making the whole process stressful for the children, this unnecessarily involves them in conflict between you and your ex-spouse.
Even worse, it can result in emotional alienation, which happens when a child begins to prefer a parentless home as a result of one parent’s critical remarks. Courts have a zero tolerance policy for this conduct and will take severe action against any parent who engages in it.
Even though it can be challenging, it is crucial to control your emotions in tense circumstances like divorce or a child custody battle. Although you might be tempted to give in to your annoyance and explode in anger, you must resist the urge.
Courts are less inclined to assign custody of a child to a parent who exhibits volatile emotions, particularly strong ones like rage. Even if your spouse is angry and spiteful, it is best to refrain from responding in kind because doing so will only make things worse for you.
Never take lying or cheating on your partner or spouse lightly. Your dishonesty may unduly weaken or cause the court to complicate your child custody case as these are often grounds for dismissal.
Additionally, resist the impulse to start or sustain a romantic relationship with anyone else while your divorce is going on. Children may experience extreme discomfort when they witness their parents having an intimate relationship with another person. Divorce is a painful process for children.
This kind of behavior may not be seen positively by Michigan courts since they consider it harmful to the child.
In the extreme, a parent can make a home unstable when there is prevailing atmosphere of child abuse manifested either as a physical harm or mental harm. We described this form of bodily harm to a child in an article entitled, “What Is Considered Child Abuse In Michigan?” You can read the article in our Legal Blog here.
We described any harm to the child’s bodily state as follows:
“Serious physical harm” refers to any physical harm to a child that gravely compromises the child’s health or physical well-being, such as brain damage, a fractured skull or bone, a subdural hematoma, a dislocation, a sprain, an internal injury, poisoning, a burn or scald, or a deep cut.
“Serious mental harm” is defined as an injury to a child’s mental wellbeing or condition that is not necessarily permanent but nevertheless produces clearly discernible manifestations of a significant disorder of thought or mood that materially impairs behavior, judgment, the ability to recognize reality, or the capacity to cope with day-to-day demands of life.
A Failed Parenting Time Creates An Unstable Home Too
In many families, one parent concentrates on earning money and working, while the other parent is more active in raising the children. Even though at the moment it seems like the greatest plan, if you have a poor track record of spending time with your child, it could hurt your case.
Which parent is the primary caregiver for the children, who makes dinner, and who assists them with their homework are frequently the topics of discussion in Michigan courts. Even though you could be working hard to provide for your family’s basic needs like food, shelter, and clothing, the parent who provides their child with better care has a clear edge.
During parenting time exchanges, you can ruin the parenting time experience by dragging the children into parental dynamics.
This happens when parents argue in the presence or proximity of children. Making negative rhetoric or statements about the other parent or the other parent’s family members. Making queries about the other parent’s life from children. Passing on messages using the kids as intermediaries. Trying to ruin the child’s relationship with the other parent. Picking up or dropping off children too late or too early without giving the other parent a heads up. Being inconsistent in following parenting time schedules just to irritate the other parent.
Here’s a colossal failure you can do as a parent: leaving the family.
You have consistent parenting time for months and suddenly you’re gone.
Leaving your family behind before the child custody dispute is resolved could irreparably harm your case. The court might not view this decision favorably unless it is in accordance with a court order or was made jointly with your spouse and attorney.
Failing To Abide and To Sustain Custodial and Parenting Time Arrangements
There is a reason why child custody and parenting time is structured and defined a certain way. All of these arrangements are meant to serve the best interest of the child. In all the drama and pressures of divorce, parents tend to forget this. The court is not interested in the affairs of the parents, the courts have an almost absolute bias for protecting the welfare of the children.
This is the reason why courts even put up with minor criminal or misdemeanor offenses in the personal history of the parents. They are willing to ignore misdemeanors just to ensure the relationship or the bond between parents are kept and sustained through the life of the children. This is the whole point of equitable custody and parenting time.
When a parent, through their selfish behavior disrupts the custodial arrangement or jeopardizes the parenting time, they create instability in the life of the children at home. Openly defying or circumventing the intentions of the court disrupts the arrangements meant to serve the child’s best interest.
Preventing a parent from seeing the children leads to instability in the home. It doesn’t go well for the child, and the court frowns upon such behavior. The court has no problem throwing the book at a parent who tries to disrupt the stability in children’s lives.
Stability in the home for children will define the quality of your parenting. More than being appreciated as the parent of the year, stability in your home for your child is a determining factor if you will continue to be the custodial parent.
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Goldman & Associates Law Firm is here to with information about Child Custody and Divorce in the State of Michigan.