5 Types of Child Custody Every Parent Needs to Know
If you’re separating from your spouse, you need to understand the different types of child custody.
Here are five types of child custody every parent needs to understand.
22.4 million American children had a parent who lived outside their household.
Child custody is a legal term used to describe the legal relationship between a parent or guardian and a child in that person’s care. There are several types of child custody, so it’s important to understand the key differences if you find yourself in a child custody battle. As always, we recommend you work with an experienced child custody lawyer for the best results.
Today, we’re taking a closer look at the different types of child custody so you’re prepared.
Types of Child Custody
Whether you’re getting a divorce or you’ve had children outside of your marriage, you will need to make an important decision regarding your child custody arrangement. Before you can set out to resolve the issue, you need to understand the different types of child custody.
There are several different types of child custody:
- Legal Custody: One or both parents the right to make important life decisions for a child.
- Physical Custody: Establishes where a child will live and involves the day-to-day care of the child.
- Sole Custody: Only one parent has both physical and legal custody of a child.
- Joint Legal Custody: Both parents have the right to make important life decisions for a child.
- Joint Physical Custody: An arrangement whereby children split time living with both parents.
Today, we’re taking a closer look at five of the most common types of child custody so you can make an informed decision when resolving a child custody battle.
Let’s get started …
1. Legal Custody
Legal custody provides the legal authority to make major decisions on behalf of the child. Legal custody can be sole or joint. The decisions include what religion, if any, the child will follow, where the child will attend school and non-emergency medical decisions.
There is a difference between legal custody and physical custody. So, parents can have joint legal custody without having joint physical custody.
2. Physical Custody
When most people think about child custody, they think about physical custody. The decision is made that the child will live primarily with one person. This often referred to as “residential custody.” Sometimes the decision is made by default, and sometimes it is made by a court process.
For example, in some cases, if the mother and father are not married, the mother may be given physical custody by default. And it is also possible that the parents can agree on the terms of physical custody.
Physical custody can be sole or joint.
3. Sole Custody
When one parent is given sole custody, the child will reside at that parent’s address. In most cases of sole custody, however, the other (non-custodial) parent is given visitation rights, usually with sleepover privileges.
These visitation privileges may be scheduled for every other weekend, holidays, and part or all of summer break. Situations which seem to favor visitation include a high level of conflict between parents or a significant geographic difference between their residences. In these cases, it might be best for the child to stay in one location longer for more stability.
4. Joint Custody
Joint custody has also been called “shared custody,” “shared parenting,” or “dual residence,” reflecting that the child lives with one parent part of the time and the other parent part of the time.
This is often the preferred court arrangement because the child will have meaningful contact with both parents. The division of time might be 50/50 but it doesn’t have to be. Some states have a minimum of 35-40 percent of time spent with each parent.
The court may award joint physical custody and weigh the evidence of the case to determine how much time should be spent with each parent.
Parents may also decide and agree on some other percent of the time based on their individual work schedules and the child’s schedule. This could mean alternating weeks or months or dividing the week between the two residences.
It is possible that children reside in a central location rather than with either parent, and the parents rotate in an out of the children’s home on a regular basis. This is referred to as “Bird nest custody.” For example, one parent may reside there for part of the week, and the other parent for the rest of the week.
This is a child-centric approach but not necessarily an ideal solution as three residences need to be maintained.
5. Visitation
If a parent does not have custody, he or she may still be granted visitation rights. These are closely monitored by the court, and there are consequences for failing to follow court directions.
The court orders a visitation schedule that the non-custodial parent must follow. The parent must also return the child as specified. Non-conformance to the rules of visitation can result in contempt of court. It can also lead the court to change the circumstances and schedules of the visitation.
Interference with visitation rights can also lead to serious consequences, possibly with criminal implications.
Parents aren’t the only ones potentially involved with visitation rights. They can also be extended to third parties including grandparents, extended relatives, stepparents, and foster parents.
These third-party rights are granted in the case where it is best for the child, and parents may be given greater control over who else has those rights and also given the right to limit interaction with the child.
There are different types of visitation including supervised, unsupervised, and virtual.
Unsupervised visitation is the most common form and it allows the non-custodial parent to generally take their children into their own homes or share an outing.
Supervised visitation requires another responsible adult to be present. Depending on individual circumstances, the other adult may be chosen by the non-custodial parent, or the court may specify a location and a court-appointed social worker or another servant of the court to be present.
Virtual visitation involves certain kinds of technology like video-conferencing where face-to-face visitation can occur in a virtual setting. It is not the preferred method of visitation but may be an alternative where the parents live far apart and travel would be difficult or impossible.
Conclusion
If you had a child outside of marriage or you’re getting a divorce from your spouse, it’s important that you understand the different types of child custody arrangements and what they entail so you can make an informed decision regarding the resolution of a child custody battle.
Child custody is important to all parents and concerned adults who want to protect children from any possible harm and make sure they have every opportunity to live full and happy lives. We encourage you to find a lawyer who has experience handling family law matters, including child custody, as this will provide you the best chance of winning the desired child custody arrangement so you can move forward with your child alongside legal protection.
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