[chadash]

IANAL, but there are some things where you should really get expert advice. Child custody is one of them.

I think with legal docs generally, you have to decide what the stakes are and act accordingly. In general, keep in mind that most lawyers won't take a case unless there's someone with deep pockets to sue. So for that $20k loan you give to a friend, a boilerplate template is fine; if they don't want to pay you back, a lawsuit is gonna cost you more than the loan anyway. You've got a new startup for website monitoring with 20 customers? Worry about growing your userbase, not the remote chance that you get sued and something in the boilerplate docs you used wasn't worded properly (of course, once you raise significant money or have significant revenue, those legal docs become much more important, and also this doesn't apply if you are working on something with significant risk, such as a medical device).

But child custody isn't one of those things. It is high stakes, the chances that your counterparty will sue you are very high, and a bad outcome might be one of the worst things that can happen to you. Personally, the possibility of losing custody of my children would be much more worrying to me than any financial lawsuit.

[shermantanktop]

I have a friend in a messy divorce. With custody, all rational thought has gone out the window. Cost of lawyers? Doesn’t matter, sue! Need to comply or get fined? Don’t care. Court ordered therapy? Don’t feel like it.

The pockets that fund this behavior will be empty at some point. But until then, primal irrational impulses are running the show.

In a case like that, the difference between the right legal docs and the mostly right docs would be huge.

[ethbr1]

Legal divorce proceedings are like wedding planning, except every professional around you instead has a financial incentive to make you as angry and mean as possible, because it means more billable hours.

[toomuchtodo]

I have seen hundreds of thousands of dollars incinerated on legal fees due to this. Very accurate!

[samstave]

To be honest; We need a "divorce/came-into-money-IPO/WTF do when tech couples split?" TECH DOCUMENTS (For all parties - but specifically their kids) thingy...

[toomuchtodo]

Prenup for assets, judges in family court for kids. Why no docs for custody and kids in general? Because a disinterested human needs to make the decisions at the time the exception occurs.

(have volunteered some time as a guardian ad litem, and most in my circle are divorced, from the homeless to a billionaire)

[samstave]

I was more looking for properly formatting a document for filings was all?

Maybe thats a poor example - but forms help thats not spammy, but also not "starting a business related"

Legal resources online all seem so "Better Call Saul" quality. Like going to a used car lot.