How Do You Prove the Best Interest of a Child in a Custody Case?

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How do you prove the best interest of a child in a custody case? It's a vague standard. It's hard to understand what it means and a lot of different things can be argued in your case. Ultimately, it's up to the court to determine what it sees as relevant or not relevant in your case.

1. Determine What Factors Apply in Your Case

So, the first thing I recommend doing in a custody case is looking at the best interest statute and determining what factors apply to your case. When you look at the statute, some may be neutral, like the wishes of the parent, which is oftentimes competing because each parent wants opposite things. Some factors though could weigh in your favor, like adjustment to the community, maybe your child's grown up there or if you have other kids in your home, maybe their relationship with the siblings is a factor that weighs in your favor or maybe your child's special needs and you've primarily cared for them their whole life and you know how to do that to a different degree than the other parent. So you need to start with the statute and look for evidence to support the factors as they apply to your case.

2. Highlight Relationship with Your Child

There are also a couple more general items that apply to every case. For instance, you should highlight the relationship with your child. Show the court what life in your household is like. Walk them through a typical day. What do you do for breakfast? How do you get them ready for school? How do you take them to this school or get them on the bus and maybe you can show the court photographs showing how you engage with your child in different environments.

3. Show Participation in School

The third thing I recommend is to show participation in their schooling. Show that you know their teachers, that you take an active part in their education. If you don't take an active part in their education, it's gonna be obvious to the court, so be sure to take an active part in their education and be able to show the court what you're doing. For instance, if they're struggling in a class, maybe you have a story about how you helped them get a better grade.

4. Show Co-Parenting Relationship

The fourth thing I recommend is show that you promote a good co-parenting relationship. This can be done through a lot of different types of evidence. For instance, you can use text to show that you're trying to promote the parenting relationship. You can also use a parenting calendar journal to show the history of the co-parenting relationship.

5. Address Weaknesses of your Case

The last big thing I recommended custody cases is to have a plan to address the weakness of your case. You have to put a case forward, but you also have to plan to address weaknesses of your case. So for instance, there may be allegations of drug use, domestic violence or maybe you guys guys just live far apart and it makes parenting time through the week difficult. You need to think about what those weaknesses are and what could be used against you and have a plan on how you're gonna address it.

My name is Nathan Vining. I'm an attorney in Indianapolis. I practice family law throughout the state of Indiana, and if you're dealing with a custody case or have questions, give me a call. I'd be happy to help.