Different Forms of Child Custody

Physical custody means that a parent has the right to have a child live with him or her.

Some states will award joint physical custody to both parents when the child spends significant amounts of time with both parents.
 

Joint physical custody works best if parents live relatively near to each other, as it lessens the stress on children and allows them to maintain a somewhat normal routine. It also allows them to stay close to their friends. A child custody lawyer can tell you if you can fit into this category.
 

Where the child lives primarily with one parent and has visitation with the other, generally the parent with whom the child primarily lives will have sole physical custody, with visitation to the other parent.

If you prefer this type of custody, contact a lawyer to ensure this is the right course of action for you.
 

Legal Custody
Legal custody of a child means having the right and the obligation to make decisions about a child's upbringing.

A parent with legal custody can make decisions about schooling, religion, and medical care. In many states, courts regularly award joint legal custody, which means that the decision making is shared by both parents.
 

This can only be done if the parents can work together, so talk with your child custody lawyer to see if this is right for your situation.
 

If you share joint legal custody with the other parent and you exclude him or her from the decision-making process, your ex can take you back to court and ask the judge to enforce the custody agreement through a family lawyer.

If you think you have circumstances that make it impossible to share joint legal custody (the other parent won't communicate with you about important matters or is abusive), you can go to court with a child custody lawyer and ask for sole legal custody.
 

If you fit into this category, contact a child custody lawyer to file claim and keep your child safe.
 

Courts generally won't hesitate to award sole physical custody to one parent if the other parent is deemed unfit -- for example, because of alcohol or drug dependency, a new partner who is unfit, or charges of child abuse or neglect.
 

So if your former partner is unfit, contact a child custody lawyer to file suit.
 

However, in most states, courts are moving away from awarding sole custody to one parent and toward enlarging the role a divorced father plays in his children's lives. In that situation, the parents would make joint decisions about the child's upbringing, but one parent would be deemed the primary physical caretaker, while the other parent would have visitation rights.

Joint Custody
Parents who don't live together have joint custody (also called shared custody) when they share the decision-making responsibilities for, and/or physical control and custody of, their children. Joint custody can exist if the parents are divorced, separated, or no longer cohabiting, or even if they never lived together.
 

If joint custody is what you want, contact a local child custody lawyer or family lawyer to pursue this option.

Joint custody may be:

It is common for couples who share physical custody to also share legal custody, but not necessarily the other way around.
 

When deciding what type of custody is right for your family during a divorce, it is vital to work alongside a child custody lawyer to avoid making the wrong choice or not getting the type of custody you want.