A non-smoking parent may have the upper hand in a child custody case these days. More and more courts across the country are starting to favor non-smoking parents when it comes to the placement of minor children in homes.

Tobacco use is now considered a large factor in child custody cases. Parents could lose visitation rights as well as custody if it is proven that they subject their children to the harmful effects of cigarette smoke. A judge in Georgia reversed a child custody arrangement after it was shown that the mother’s smoking habits caused her daughter to develop asthma.

Court orders are commonly handed out in order to protect the children from breathing in the contaminated air, and force parents to only smoke in areas where the children will not be present. Failure to comply to these orders can result in the loss of custody or visitation rights.

If you need help regarding a child custody case, please contact the San Jose child custody lawyers of the Law Offices of Daniel Jensen by calling 408-296-4100 today.

Samuel Lee Horton, 38, of Greenville, South Carolina and his ex-wife have a son and a daughter.  After the divorce, Horton was only granted visitation rights, not custody rights, of his children.  Recently, FBI investigators discovered Horton hiding in Phuket, Thailand with his 3-year old daughter where the two lived for a year.

In May 2009, Horton told his wife he was taking his daughter on a trip to Disney World.  In actuality, Horton was fleeing to Thailand with the girl.  Before leaving, Horton forged his wife’s signature in order to obtain a passport for his daughter to leave the country.  When FBI officials found Horton, he had a job and had enrolled his daughter in school in Phuket.

Horton is being charged with violating a child custody order and faces up to ten years in prison.  He has already plead guilty to falsifying a document for the forged signature he used to get a passport for his daughter.

If you or someone you know is fighting for their child custody rights, contact the San Jose child custody and visitation lawyers of The Law Office of Daniel Jensen at 408-556-9276 to learn more about your rights.