If the client comes to me and says, “I want sole custody,” then I ask the question, “Assuming I’m the judge right now, tell me what your spouse is like with the children that would be so heinous as to not permit that spouse to have what he has right now. Does he drink? Does she do drugs? Is there any cause of harm to these children if this spouse is alone with the children?”
We need to know this information and this evidence. It can’t just be the fact that he or she is a jerk, or that he or she is unfaithful. It has to be something that negatively impacts the children. One interesting question and answer is, “When you’re working during the day, and your other spouse is home, who is taking care of the children?”
“Well, my spouse, because I have to work.”
The court is going to see the fact that if you’re willing, right now, to leave the children alone with your spouse, how are you going to successfully argue that that spouse should not have shared parenting? Through this act, you are showing the court that your spouse is able to be alone without the children without harm to them.