Child Custody Lawyers Mississauga

Protecting the Parental Right of Clients in the Mississauga Area

If you are facing a divorce, your primary concern is naturally your children and your child custody arrangements. The dedicated legal professionals at Amiri Family Law in Mississauga, Ontario, understand how critical this issue is, and we have the compassion, commitment, and experience to help you obtain a child custody order that works for you and your children. Our experienced family lawyer Nima Amiri takes your concerns extremely seriously, and we are committed to working closely with you, to truly listening to your concerns, and to protecting your rights throughout the process.

Understanding Child Custody in Ontario

Parents have a constellation of rights and responsibilities when it comes to caring for and bringing up their children. Child custody and access is the legal mechanism for delineating these rights in a divorce or separation. The court’s first priority is to protect the best interests of the children involved, including their right to live in a safe, secure, stable, and loving environment.

Child custody addresses the rights of both parents to make important decisions related to their children’s upbringings, including:

• Decisions related to the children’s educations
• Decisions related to the children’s religious and/or moral training
• Decisions related to the children’s health care
• Decisions related to the children’s general welfare

Access, on the other hand, refers to the specific amount of time a noncustodial parent will spend with his or her children. Access also addresses the noncustodial parent’s right to stay informed regarding the health, education, and welfare of his or her children – even though this parent doesn’t have the custodial parent’s decision making authority.

The Child Custody Process

When both parents can find middle ground by coming to an agreement regarding critical child-custody issues, they are able to bypass a good deal of legal conflict. Working with an experienced family lawyer helps to ensure that the client’s rights are protected and that the best interests of the children are preserved. The agreed upon parenting plan can be included with the separation agreement – or with the subsequent divorce order – which makes it legally binding and enforceable by the court. If the parents are unable to come to mutual terms, the court will make the decisions for them via the litigation process.

The Court’s Considerations

The court’s sole intention is to protect the best interests of the child, and these include several considerations:

• The loving, affectionate, and emotional ties between the child and each person who is entitled to or who is claiming entitlement to child custody or access
• When they can be reasonably ascertained, the child’s views and preferences
• Each applicant’s ability and willingness to provide the child with guidance and education and with life’s necessities, including any special needs the child may have
• Each applicant’s ability to act as a parent
• Each applicant’s familial relationship with the child
• Each applicant’s proposed custody or access plan
• The permanence and stability of the proposed family unit

Sole Custody vs. Joint Custody

As implied, sole custody refers to when one parent is awarded the right and responsibility to make all important decisions for the children, and joint custody refers to when both parents share this right and responsibility. There is no legal presumption that the court will order joint custody. Instead, the court’s paramount concern is that the custody arrangement protects the children’s best interests.

Call to Book a Consultation with a Mississauga Child Custody Lawyer

If you are involved in a child custody and access dispute, the dedicated legal team at Amiri Family Law has the experience, knowledge, and skill to help. Our offices are conveniently located across Ontario. To discuss your rights and options, please schedule a consultation by contacting or calling us at 647-792-2961 today.