Separating is hard to do but what happens when a full-blown child custody battle ensues?
When a couple with children separates it is a long and complicated road to dealing with the multitude of emotional, financial and practical outcomes. For some the journey is made horrendously more difficult by a lack of trust between parents or a history of criminal behaviour on the part of one of the parties. When these cases occur custody battles often ensue, forcing families into one of the worst kinds of legal conflicts.
A Case of Evidence Needed
When an investigation into child custody comes across our desk it typically centres around questions of how a child is being treated whilst in a carer’s custody.
A mother may not be confident that her child’s father is providing an appropriate level of care.
A father may find contention in the idea that his ex is claiming full custody whilst leaving the child in her parent’s care and tending to partying instead.
Perhaps one of the parents has a history of alcohol abuse, physical violence or negligence and yet has attained custody, leaving the child open to possible harm.
Separating when you have children is undoubtedly a difficult thing to do, made worse by the fact that shared custody can mean your child is away from you for significant periods of time.
Legitimate claims of the harm and neglect of children are some of the most important investigations any of our employees will deal with. They require tact and care, and a resolve to 100% do things by the book.
When it comes to winning your custody battle, you need to ensure all evidence gathered is done so to the highest standard possible.
What will a Private Investigator do?
When you’re trying to legitimise your custody battle suit you’re going to need evidence.
If you’re afraid your ex is dumping the kids with gran while he blows his money on the Dapto dogs, or if you’re scared someone inside your child’s secondary residence is placing their physical or emotional safety at risk, you’re going to need actionable information quick.
What we’re gonna do in these situations is sit and shoot — footage that is.
By following and staking out a possible suspect we’re able to monitor and document their movements.
As you can imagine this is a pretty effective way of figuring out whether or not a person is being deceptive about their parenting chops.
While we’re there we’re also looking out for evidence of the behaviour and treatment towards their children.
Reckless driving, not using the appropriate child restraints, driving drunk or unlicensed, or any other endangering behaviour, can be documented by our investigators.
Following Child Custody Contracts
There are certain stipulations to a custody contract that need to be followed. If one party isn’t following them, they’re in breach of that contract.
So, say for instance, you’ve stipulated that a parent must talk in a certain language around a child at all times. Your reasons for this may be manifold, but mostly it’s to ensure your child is getting the most out of their schooling.
You’re worried that the other parent isn’t following these rules.
What we’ll do, is simply follow your child and their carer into a public space and listen to the conversations they have.
This way, you’ll have evidence and an understanding of how often that carer is talking in that language to your child and whether or not they’re in breach of the contract.
Similarly, if the contract stipulates that one parent must be accompanied by another adult at all times during visits, a similar kind of investigation will help us monitor whether this is actually happening.
You may want to do this just for peace of mind, or you may need evidence for your court battle.
When Evidence is Key
When it comes to child custody cases we’re almost always after video evidence.
If we’re bringing people’s actions into question and we’re talking something as serious as the custodial rights to your children, we’re going to want hard evidence of people committing or failing to commit certain actions.
At the end of the day the majority of people coming into our office have genuine concerns. Sadly, too often these concerns are validated.
However occasionally you’ll be embroiled in what is nothing more than a spousal duel.
In these instances it’s my pleasure to hand over evidence to the contrary of any allegations.
It’s our job to document, not to fraudulently provide you with falsified evidence.
