Top Signs You May Need to Hire a Lawyer to Help You Fight for Custody of Your Child
Posted on: 28 February 2022
You can go to family court without a lawyer to fight for custody of your child. However, this is not always the best idea. In fact, in a lot of cases, it's not really a good idea. If you're facing custody issues right now—or if you think you will sometime soon—then you may be wondering whether or not you need to hire a lawyer. These are a few signs that a lawyer might be needed to help you with your family court battle.
You're Afraid Your Child Is at Risk
Unfortunately, child custody cases cannot always be handled quickly. In some cases, even though this might be frustrating, it's not necessarily a big deal. If your child is in the care of their other parent, and if you think their other parent does a pretty good job of taking care of them, then you might not be overly worried about waiting in family court. If you think your child is at risk, however, you could be wondering if there is anything you can do to expedite the process. If you think your child's other parent is abusive or negligent, for example, there may be things you can do to protect your child and expedite the process. However, you're probably going to want to hire a family lawyer to help you.
You're Fighting for Sole Custody
In Australia, the courts often determine that split or joint custody of a child is what is in the best interest of the child. Basically, this typically means that each parent will have custody of the child approximately half of the time. In many cases, this works well. For one reason or another, though, you might think that you having sole custody of your child is what will work out best. If this is the case, then you might have to fight harder in court. This means that you will probably want to hire a family lawyer to assist you with your custody fight.
Your Ex Has Hired a Lawyer
If your child's other parent has hired a family lawyer, then you probably won't want to show up to court without representation yourself. Hiring a family lawyer will help you ensure that you and your ex are on a level playing field so you won't have to worry about things not being handled in a manner that is fair to everyone involved.
Contact a family law firm for more information.
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