Believe it or not, divorce happens in the United States every 36 seconds. Many of these divorces involve children who must be cared for. To resolve child custody and care disagreements, many families turn to a family law firm for family law questions and advice. To keep your chances of gaining custody, avoid these five negative actions.

Engaging in Parental Alienation
Parental alienation can be defined in many ways. In loose terms, it can be defined as driving a wedge between the child and the other parent. This includes badmouthing the other parent, or withholding things to get information about the other parent. Always conduct yourself in a peaceful, respectful manner to encourage your child to treat the other parent the same.

Using Child Support for Purposes Other Than to Support the Child
An average of $311 is paid in child support to custodial parents each month in the United States. If you are on the receiving end of child support, it is important that you are using those funds for their intended purposes. If you do not and child custody lawyers use it against you in family law court, you could lose your case.

Negative Use of Social Media
Most family law attorneys advise their clients to stay away from social media during their child custody case. This is because until the case has ended, everything you post can be used against you. If you are posting activities and content that can be viewed as offensive, you could risk losing custody.

Coaching your child
In some cases, the judge may ask to speak with the children involved to get their opinion. In the case that this does occur, it is important not to coach the child. Do not give them a script or specific points to say as it can make you look bad. Instead, encourage them to be as honest as possible.

Failing to Take Child Custody Legal Advice Seriously
You went to a family law firm to help you with family law child custody for a reason. Since you are paying for their family law legal advice, you should take that advice and do whatever is asked of you. If not, you could find yourself paying more than the average amount of $6,050 paid in child support annually.

Your marriage may have not worked out, but the decision of custody does not have to be a battle. Consult with a family law firm to learn how to avoid hurting your child custody case. Don’t let preventable mistakes keep you from being the best parent you can for your child.