Child custody cases are always going to be tense, fraught affairs.
However, it is incumbent upon you to try to keep matters civil.
The reasons behind the need for the custody case can be down to a break up or a divorce, but regardless it is extremely important that you focus on making sure that your children are well taken care of through the process.
In reality, the reason that you broke up will have a bearing on how amicable or otherwise the child custody procedures are going to be.
Because it affects how you feel about your ex, and that in turn means that you will behave differently around them.
That is understandable, but you should nevertheless try to curb any bad feelings and keep things as low key as possible, if only for the sake of the children.
One of the best ways to try to keep matters amicable between yourself and your ex is to focus on trying to keep emotion out of the picture, and instead concentrate on the practicalities of what lies ahead.
There are a lot of different practical matters to consider, and it certainly does you no favours if all of your attention is focused on feeling vitriolic towards your ex-partner, and not on getting the best possible deal for you and your children.
This is of course easier said than done, but you should nevertheless try as keeping things friendly will be good for your children and also better long term for you.