Temporary Orders in Custody Cases | What Parents Need to Know in NC

Temporary Orders In Custody Cases - What You Need To Know.txt
English (US)

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Temporary orders can provide stability while a divorce or custody case is ongoing. Hi, my name is Charles Allman, and a lot of times I'm asked, how can a temporary order for custody for child support help me in my case?

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The temporary order is what I call a Band-Aid solution. And by that I mean it's something that tries to address the immediate needs of the parents and make a schedule that everyone can look to, to have a common understanding of where the children will be and when the exchanges will occur. What is a temporary order and what does it do?

When we think about a temporary order. It's important to not be overly influenced by the word temporary. The temporary order stays in effect until there's a final or a permanent adjudication of the custody case. Temporary does not mean short in duration. It merely means that it's what's in place until something else replaces it.

Temporary orders are designed to provide stability when the parties are separating, and trying to make a final determination of what to do with the child or children. How can a temporary order help me there? Helpful because they establish an expectation for both parents for what's to be done for what they should expect.

Another benefit of temporary orders is that they establish stability for the child or children. The children begin to be able to have an expectation of what their schedule will look like, and where their will be on a given day. A temporary order helps because it reduces the amount of back and forth about what to do on a given day for the children's schedule.

Anything that reduces the back and forth between the parents is a good thing. So when a court establishes a temporary order, what is it looking for? The court is looking for what would be in the best interest of that child or children so far as their educational well-being, their social development, and their basic day to day needs?

The court order helps to establish stability not only for the parents, but also for the child or children. How long does a temporary order last? A temporary order lasts until it's replaced by another agreement between the parties, and a judge comes in and makes a determination about doing something differently.

So it's important, when considering a temporary order not to construe temporary as shortened duration. That's one of the biggest misconceptions about a temporary order. Frequently, I find that temporary orders tend to stay in place a very long time. The reason for that is that the parties have gone to court, the judge has made a decision and the parties have agreed to simply abide by that.

Moving forward, when should someone ask for a temporary order for custody or child support. The answer to that is anytime that there's a continued disagreement between the parents about payment monthly or about the schedule, and when I say schedule, I mean a clearly defined days that they're with the mother and days that they're with the father.

Can my temporary order affect my final order? And the answer is yes. But the part that I've been doing voluntarily or by court order temporarily tends to have an influence on what a judge would perceive as a reasonable result. It certainly has the advantage of if we were to keep that schedule in place, it decreases the amount of instability for the child's expectation going forward.

If you have questions about a temporary order for custody for child support, please feel free to reach out to us online or give us a call. We look forward to hearing from you.