Child Custody - How The Courts Decide Who Gets Residence

How do the courts decide who gets residence?

Whenever a court is dealing with an issue concerning a child, the child's welfare has to be the court's paramount consideration, and so that's at the forefront of the judges mind when considering residency. There is also a checklist that sets out other factors that a court should take into account when considering residency, and those are things like the child's wishes and feelings, the effect of any change in circumstances on the child and that sort of thing. So to a large extent it's very much a common sense approach to the issue of residency, it's where is the child going to live, who's going to be looking after the child, where is he/she going to be going to school, will that child be able to see their other relatives and friends and have the support. So it's very much a common sense approach to residency based on welfare.