Clients often underestimate the role that their child’s teacher can play in winning their child custody case. The ability to meet the intellectual needs of a child is a very important factor for the court to consider. For school-aged children, it can be a decisive one. Practically speaking, most courts take the view that a child’s performance in school is a direct reflection of the current child custody or child visitation arrangement. If the child has strong attendance, normal peer relationships is not a behavior problem and has good scholastic performance, the chances of changing custody is slim. Conversely, if the child is struggling in school, a change in custody becomes much more likely. In either instance, a child’s teacher is the strongest and most often the only witness that can testify to these factors.
The ability of a family law attorney to know this fact, and to have the skills needed to correctly use the child’s teacher as a witness at trial is of paramount importance. Moreover, very often the grades of a child are not admissible at trial unless certain formalities are provided for. All too often a child’s good or poor performance at school is overlooked or excluded altogether from a court’s determination due to the poor performance or knowledge of a person’s family law attorney.
The attorneys at Bush & Taylor have tried thousands of family law cases. They know how to present the evidence needed to get the results that are best for their clients. Put their skills to work for you in your family law case.
See what the Virginia Code says about the role of education in child custody determinations:
http://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title20/chapter6.1/section20-124.3/