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Child Custody & Support

San Francisco Child Custody & Support Lawyers

Protecting Your Child’s Best Interests in the Counties of San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Marin, & Santa Clara

When parents part through legal separations or divorce or were never married in the first place, child custody and support become critical issues. How these issues are resolved will impact you and your children for years to come. Getting these issues resolved favorably at the outset can help you avoid years of tension, upset, and difficulty as a co-parent. Because the stakes are high and this is a matter in which disputes can easily arise, it is vital that you understand how California family law and the courts that must follow it can affect your case. It is critical that you speak to a San Francisco child custody lawyer, a child support lawyer or an attorney experienced with both types of cases right away. 

Nachlis | Cohade | Lopez-Whitaker, LLP is a family law firm backed by more than 60 years of collective professional experience shared among its capable attorneys. We provide the added advantage of having a Certified Family Law Specialist on board with founding attorney Lorie Nachlis. This means you will have the benefit of expert knowledge and experience available in the handling of even the most contentious and complex custody matters, including those involving international family law. Our firm is dedicated to helping you achieve favorable results while protecting your child(ren)’s best interests.  

Child Custody

Child Custody Cases Our Attorneys Handle

Our firm excels at handling difficult child custody and visitation matters using our deep understanding of the law and long experience in negotiating, mediating, or litigating particularly adversarial cases in court. For any parent, however, it is important to understand that courts must operate on the principle of what is in the best interests of the child, as opposed to any parent’s specific desires. While parents have legal rights in terms of their children, these rights do not negate their co-parent’s rights.  

What are the different Types of Child Custody?

There are two types of child custody:

  • Legal custody that gives a parent the authority to make life decisions for a child, such as those involving schooling, health, religion, and extra-curricular activities; and
  • Physical custody that determines with whom the child will reside. 

These factors can be granted on a shared or sole basis, as in shared legal and physical custody giving both parents these rights and responsibilities with a detailed parenting plan, or other variations and combinations of custody arrangements. When parents share time with children, parenting plans outline arranged schedules. Child custody orders are legally binding and can be enforced through court action. You can also seek to modify orders if a substantial change in circumstances for a parent or child can be proven to the court.  

Child Support

Child Support and How Our Attorneys Can Help

At Nachlis | Cohade | Lopez-Whitaker, LLP, our lawyers understand how the variables in calculations can affect support orders. Whether you need assistance seeking, contesting, enforcing, or modifying a support order, we can help.  Understanding Child Support and the law

Parents owe financial support to their children, and this is arranged under California child support guidelines. Generally, the parent who spends less time with the child pays this support to the other parent to help finance the cost of raising the child. 

These guidelines take consider factors such as: 

  • The number of children being supported
  • Parental incomes
  • Any other financial support from previous relationships that must be paid
  • Health insurance costs
  • The amount of time each parent spends with the child

A mechanical application of the guidelines will result in a payment amount. However, deviations from the calculated amount may be allowed where needed to increase or decrease support obligations that are considered inappropriate or unfair to a parent or child. 

Talk to a San Francisco child custody and support attorney about your case. Contact us onlineor at (415) 855-9344 to schedule a consultation.