Child Custody - Exceptional Arrangements

Question:

What alternatives exist to the normal 'menu' of one parent getting sole custody of the children , who are kept together and see the other parent twice during the week, every other weekend and spend time with both during holidays and festivals ?

Answer:

One alternative is  joint or mutual custody, where  the children stay together and the  parents are joint custodians . This can operate  in different ways. The first option is where the children stay together but spend part of each week during the school year with each parent and every other weekend  The second option is that they spend a set period of time with each parent alternately . For example, they can spend a  complete week  staying with one parent and the following one with the other parent. During the week that they spend with one parent arrangement can be made for some form of contact with the other parent.

Another alternative is to 'split' custody i.e. where there are more than one children, for them to be split up, so that at least one of them lives with each parent, and spends time with the other during visitation. It means that  brothers and sisters can lose out on the usual experience of living together, though it is sometimes preferable, depending on the particular circumstances. As a rule courts do not like to separate siblings.

Where parents live far away from one another within Israel, one parent can be awarded sole custody, but appropriate  visitation arrangements will be far from standard, but cater to their particular circumstances. For example, mid-week visitation may be impractical because of the geographical distance involved, but may be every weekend, or most weekends during the school year, and for most or all of the school holidays, for example.

To summarise, while alternatives such as  joint custody and segregation of siblings exist, they are exceptions and usually one parent has sole custody of the children, with the other having visitation rights as explained in the section "Usual Custody Arrangements".

Case :

I am divorcing. My wife and I have two children. We are considering sharing custody. Is the court likely to agree to an arrangement whereby each of us has one of the children at a given time, and the children themselves ‘take turns’ in seeing us ?

Answer:

Courts are in general reluctant to separate brothers and sisters as separating siblings is usually regarded as having a negative effect. However, each case should always be considered on its own merits and the court may well  appoint a professional to make recommendations on such a custody proposal, if it has doubts about this being in the minors' interests , even if the parents agree.