Parental Rights Attorney in Gwinnett County, GA

Protecting Parental Rights in Georgia

Parental rights refer to your legal freedoms and obligations as a parent, including: your right to legal and physical custody of the child, visitation rights (such for a non-custodial parent after a divorce), your obligation to financially support the child, your obligation to feed/clothe/shelter the child, your obligation to the child's education, and your obligation to provide a safe living environment for your child.

The failure to protect your son or daughter, to get him or her medical help when needed or to meet any of your other parental responsibilities can result in child abuse or neglect.

How Are Parental Rights in Georgia Divided?

While parents have these rights and responsibilities, a judge can decide, in the event of a divorce or legal separation, how they will be split between the two parents. When a grandparent tries to claim his or her rights for visitation of a grandchild in the event of a divorce or separation, the judge will weigh the potential effect on parental rights before making a decision. When one parent dies, the other parent of child has the right to sole natural guardianship. This is true even in cases of divorce where the deceased parent had sole custody of the child.

What is the Termination of Parental Rights in Georgia?

According Georgia Law 15-11-94, parent’s rights may be terminated if the parent legally relinquishes custody, neglected the child support order for up to 1 year, neglect/abuse/abandonment, convicted of killing the other parent, and/or the court finds the the child's well-being lacking.

• Voluntary Termination: Occurs when a parent opts out of involvement in the child's life, or for adoption purposes.
• Involuntary Termination: Occurs due to abuse, neglect, or state intervention for child safety.

Even in cases in which a parent decides to terminate his or her parental rights, that individual could still be held responsible for paying child support until the child reaches the age of 18.

Contact Our Parental Rights Lawyer in Gwinnett County Today

There is no doubt that getting a divorce becomes far more difficult and emotionally involved when you have children together. It can become difficult to find balance when you might have to share custody of your child or even accept less custody or visitation than you were hoping for. Some divorced parents who were used to seeing their children every day end only getting to see them once a week or on alternating weekends. In other instances, a parent might feel he or she is not being given enough say over major decisions in the child’s life.

When you are dealing with divorce, it is important to learn and understand your parental rights so you can be at the greatest advantage when creating your parenting plan, or a clearly outlined plan for each parent’s role in the child’s life after the divorce. An attorney from the Fox Firm, P.C. can help explain your inherent parental rights to you in more detail. The state of Georgia has laws in place that protect these rights.