A criminal conviction can have a major impact on your future. Naturally, you may have to spend time in jail or in prison, serving your sentence. You may also have to pay financial fines and fees, or you may have to do community service or spend time on probation. It all depends on the nature of the offense and the sentence that you receive.
One thing to consider when facing these charges, however, is the impact that they could have on your family life in the future. For instance, say that your spouse files for divorce. Having a criminal conviction on your record could impact your chances of getting custody of your children.
The best interests of the child
This doesn’t mean that a conviction guarantees you won’t see your children. But the court tries to look at the child’s best interests when determining how to divide custody. A criminal record is one factor that they may consider, along with things like the child’s age, your financial situation, the child’s preferences, your age and physical health, and many other details.
Some offenses are going to have a greater impact than others, particularly if the court believes the child could be in danger. For instance, if you have violent crimes on your record, they may be worried about the child’s safety living in your home. If you have a history of impaired driving charges, the court may worry that you can’t provide reliable transportation or that the child shouldn’t be with you exclusively due to issues with substance abuse or addiction.
In some cases, courts will use supervised visitation to get around this. You may not have full custody of your child, but you still get visitation rights, and someone else supervises to ensure that the child is safe.
But you can see how this can create a very complicated situation while going through a divorce. Be sure you know exactly what legal steps to take.