If you re sure the answer is yes, be prepared to take less of other assets or to take on more debt to compensate your spouse. Custody is the 800-pound gorilla in divorce fights, because, unlike other issues, where you can weigh the value of a benefit against the cost of fighting for it, no one can put a price on custody. Do your best to work out calmly the details of where the children will live, how and when they will spend time with the other parent, and how you and your former spouse will make major decisions about the children. Increasingly, parents are opting for joint custody, where they share time and responsibility. This does not have to mean that the children spend equal time with each parent.
Every state now has guidelines to calculate child support.
These guidelines take the guesswork out for the vast majority of divorcing couples. It s rare for a judge to order a deviation from the guidelines, sometimes even when both parents ask for it. Even if both parents agree to a deviation, in most courts it s easy to get the child support restored to the guideline figure later. Collecting child support has gotten easier recently. As the result of federal legislation now adopted in all 50 states, deadbeat parents can have their bank accounts seized, their income garnished, and their drivers licenses, professional licenses, and hunting and fishing licenses suspended.