A Monmouth County Judge is guided by statutes and case law. For any issue that’s before a court, the judge takes into consideration the factors in the statute, fact sensitive information, custody evaluations, the testimony of witnesses etc. The judge has to weigh each of the factors and all of the other information that is submitted to him for consideration to determine the parent that is most appropriate to care for a child or children. There is generally quite a bit of tension between parents in these types of proceedings. Judges don’t know the couple. The judge may have to rely on expert opinion, which means that each party may have to hire a professional to do a custody evaluation. These evaluations are very expensive. It will involve the children in different ways depending on the age of the child. It’s very traumatic for both parents and especially for children and it’s not an application that should be made lightly.