Understanding Child Custody in Same-Sex Marriages
Are you looking to terminate a same-sex marriage and you’re wondering how that will impact child custody and visitation? My name is Carl Birkhead. I’m an attorney with Wirth Law Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I want to help you make law easy by telling you a little bit about how child custody works and how being in a same-sex relationship could impact that.
The very, very short answer is that it doesn’t, usually. I know a lot of people have some preconceived notions or some prejudices about, you know, oh, the law doesn’t like that, the courts don’t like that, we live in a conservative state. It doesn’t impact child custody and visitation. I’ve seen cases where there was a mom and a dad, they were married, they split off, and one side started batting for the other team, and it didn’t affect anything.
Factors Considered in Child Custody Cases
It doesn’t change, the courts don’t just automatically yank a child because their parent is dating someone of the same gender. The court doesn’t just automatically outright refuse to give a parent custody because of their sexual orientation. What ultimately is and always is the concern is what’s in the best interest of the child.
So, let’s say mom and dad split up, mom gets a girlfriend, and dad doesn’t like it, and tries to yank custody back. That on its own isn’t enough. As long as the mom is still providing a fit and proper home for the child, as long as the mom is providing for the child’s needs, as long as the mom and the partner are appropriate around the child, it’s not, as long as they’re doing the same things that a heterosexual couple would do, loving, caring, supporting, not exposing the child to inappropriate things, it’s not going to matter and it’s not going to harm you in a child custody battle.
Best Interests of the Child
Let’s say, for example, you have two homosexuals who adopt a child and then you’re getting a divorce and you want to know how that’s going to play into it. It’s just going to come down to what’s in the child’s best interest. And under Oklahoma law, there’s a presumption that it’s always in the child’s best interest when there are two fit and loving and proper parents for that child to spend as much time as possible with both sides. It doesn’t matter who they’re dating. It doesn’t matter who they’re married to. What matters is that child is cared for and that child is loved.
Low-Cost Initial Strategy Session
If you think that you’re in a situation where your sexual identity is becoming a factor in your custody case, please, by all means, give us a call at 918-879-1681. My name is Carl Birkhead. I would love to talk to you about this, and I want to help you to make law easy. Thank you.
