Source: https://www.womenslaw.org/es/leyes/de/custody/all
Timestamp: 2020-07-05 04:48:45
Document Index: 387697567

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 722', '§ 701', '§ 2330', '§ 2331', '§ 2512', '§ 2410', '§ 705', '§ 2330', '§ 2353', '§ 8', '§ 722', '§ 704', '§ 1920', '§ 1920', '§ 1923', '§ 501', '§ 1512', '§ 711']

Delaware: Custody | WomensLaw.org
Delaware: Custody
WomensLaw.org strongly recommends that you get in touch with a lawyer for more information on custody. Go to the DE Finding a Lawyer page for listings of local services. Also, you can check out the Delaware State Courts website for additional information about custody, visitation, and divorce. En nuestra página general de Custodia, tenemos información sobre custodia que no es específica de ningún estado. La página incluye una sección sobre lo que necesita saber para modificar una orden de custodia de otro estado o territorio.
Custody is the legal responsibility for the care and control of your child (under 18).
In Delaware, when a judge gives you a custody order, it will address two things: legal custody and residency.
Legal custody is the right to make major decisions about your child. If you are given legal custody of your child, you have the right to make the following types of decisions:
Residency is the actual physical care and supervision of your child (under 18). If you are granted residency, your child may live with you on a day-to-day basis.1
Judges make decisions about custody according to what is in “the best interest of the child.” This means that they will look at several factors when deciding who should be granted custody to make sure that the child is living in a safe and caring household.2
2 13 Del. C. § 722
There are many reasons people choose not to get a custody order from a judge. Some people decide not to get a custody order because they don’t want to get the courts involved. Some parents make an informal agreement that works well for them. Some parents may think going to court will provoke the other parent, or they are worried that the other parent might get custody or visitation.
Without a custody order, both parents have equal rights and responsibilities for the child or children.1
1 13 Del. Code § 701.
If you are not comfortable with the abuser being alone with your child, you might be thinking about asking the judge to order that visits with your child be supervised. If you are already in court because the abuser filed for visitation or custody, you may want to ask that the visits be supervised.
In the great majority of cases, supervised visits are only a temporary. Although the exact visitation order will vary, the judge might order a professional to observe the parent on a few visits or the visits might be supervised by a relative for a few months – and if there are no obvious problems, the visits will likely become unsupervised. Oftentimes, the parent ends up with more frequent and/ or longer visits than s/he had before you went into court. The other parent may even end up with joint custody.
In some cases, to protect your child from immediate danger by the abuser, starting a case to ask for custody and supervised visits is appropriate. To find out if that is best in your situation, please go to DE Finding a Lawyer to seek out legal advice.
If you have sole legal custody, you have the right to make all of the decisions affecting your child’s life.
If you have joint legal custody, you share the right to make decisions about your child’s life with the child’s other parent.
Judges try to grant visitation to the parent that does not have primary residencey. Judges are supposed to try to create an arrangement where both parents have meaningful contact with the child. A Judge can restrict or eliminate contact with one parent if s/he finds that contact with that parent would endanger the child’s physical health or significantly impair the child’s emotional development.1
Yes. A custody order is about the right to make decisions about the child’s life or physically have the child. Visitation rights are given to the parent who the child does not live with full time. Visitation allows that parent to visit the child and to be told about decisions made concerning the child. This parent will have scheduled times during which he or she can visit the child.1
Generally, at least one of the child’s parents is entitled to custody and/or visitation. Both parents have the right to request visitation, and judges try to grant this, unless it would harm the child’s physical health or emotional development.1
If a judge determines that the child is neglected, or if it is in the child’s best interest, then s/he may grant guardianship to another person or to the Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families.2
In addition, a non-parent, usually a relative of the child, can ask to be appointed as a legal guardian and can seek custody as well if the child is being neglected.2 Even if a guardian is appointed, the parents still have the right to have contact with the child and also have financial responsibility for the child.3 The Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families can also seek full custody if the child is being abused and is in danger.4
s/he is a grandparent, aunt, uncle or adult sibling of the child.5
Is a grandparent, aunt, uncle or adult sibling of the child.5
2 13 Del. C. § 2330
3 13 Del. C. § 2331
4 13 Del. C. § 2512
5 13 Del. C. § 2410
A parent who committed domestic violence against the child, the other parent, or another member of the household generally will not be awarded sole or joint custody unless they have not committed any further acts of violence. In addition, the parent will have to prove that they have successfully completed a counseling program or that it is in the best interest of the child that they be awarded custody.1
1 13 Del. C. § 705A
A non-parent can ask to be appointed as a legal guardian if the child is being neglected. The court must find that it is in the best interest of the child that he/she should have a guardian appointed.1 Being legal guardian is similar to having custody, but is not exactly the same thing since the parents still have some rights and responsibilities for the child.
A blood relative, foster parent or parent may also request permanent guardianship over a child in certain situations.2 This is more like establishing custody, but is legally different.
“Custody” in Delaware is for parents. Parents include birth parents, adoptive parents, and “de facto” parents, which means any person who has acted like a parent to the child, with the consent of the child’s actual parents.3
1 13 Del. C. § 2330
2 13 Del. C. § 2353
3 13 Del. C. § 8-201
In awarding custody of a child, the judge will look at many factors to decide what is in the best interest of the child. These factors include:
What custody and living arrangements the child’s parent or parents want;
What custody and living arrangements the child wants;
The interaction and relationship the child has with his or her parents, grandparents, siblings, the husband or wife of either parent, any other residents of the household or persons who may significantly affect the child’s best interest;
Past and present compliance by both parents with their rights and responsibilities to support and care to their child;
The criminal history of either parent and anyone they live with, including whether the criminal history contains pleas of guilty or no contest or a conviction of a criminal offense.1
1 13 Del. C. § 722
If you flee from domestic violence and temporarily leave your children behind, as long as the children are not left in immediate danger of serious physical injury, a judge is not supposed to consider this evidence of abandonment in any child custody or visitation proceeding.1 If possible, you may want to collect any evidence of abuse before you leave so that you will be able to prove to the judge that you were fleeing domestic violence for your safety.
As with all custody issues, we recommend that you talk to a lawyer about this.
1 13 Del. C. § 704A
Delaware, like many states, has adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), which we explain here.
Under the UCCJEA, you can only file for custody in the “home state” of the child. (There are exceptions to the “home state” rule – see below.)
The “home state” is the state where the child has lived with a parent or a person acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months. If your child is less than six months old, the “home state” is the state where the child has lived from birth.
If you and your child recently moved to a new state, you cannot file for custody in that new state until you have lived there for the amount of time that the law describes. Until then, the other parent can start a custody action in the state that your children most recently lived in for at least six months.
Example: If a family lives in state A for one year, state A is the home state. If the same family lived in state A for one year and then one parent moved to state B with the children and filed in state B after living in state B for only four months, state A is still the home state.1 As with all custody issues, we recommend that you talk to a lawyer about this.
1 13 Del. C. § 1920
Yes. In some cases, you can file for custody in a state where the children and at least one parent have “significant connections.” Usually, however, you can only do this if there is no home state or if the home state has agreed to let another state have jurisdiction. This can be complicated, and if you think this applies to your situation, please talk to a lawyer in both states about this. To find help through a lawyer or domestic violence advocaite, please click on the DE Places that Help tab at the top of this page.
the child has been abandoned or;
1 13 Del C. § 1920; 13 Del. C. § 1923
In some cases, you can file for custody in a state where the children and at least one parent have “significant connections.” Usually, however, you can only do this if there is no home state or if the home state has agreed to let another state have jurisdiction. For more informaiton about changing a final custody order, go to our Changing a final custody order section on our general custody page.
This can be complicated, and if you think this applies to your situation, please talk to a lawyer in both states about this. For a list of local resources, please see our DE Finding a Lawyer page under the Places that Help tab on the top of this page.
Both parents have to support a child until the child is 18 years of age or until they graduate high school.1 A “support petition” asking a judge to order a parent to pay child support can be filed in the Family Court. If you are divorced, your spouse may also be required to pay you alimony if you relied on him/her for financial support. You may have to go to mediation to try and settle the amount of child support and/or alimony you and your child can receive. This may be true unless one of the parties has committed an act of domestic violence against another party, or if they have been ordered to have no contact with the other party.2
1 13 Del. C. § 501
2 13 Del. C. § 1512
Mediation is a way of resolving a legal dispute. During mediation, a neutral third party listens to you and the person you are having a conflict with and tries to help you reach a solution before going before a judge. Mediation is not ordered in any child custody, visitation or support case where one of the parties has committed an act of domestic violence against another party, or where one party has been ordered to have no contact with the other party.1 If there has been no domestic violence, then Delaware courts usually make the parties go to mediation in all custody, visitation, and support cases.
1 13 Del. C. § 711A