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What Are Some Common Terms Used In Child Custody Lawsuits?

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The parent with legal custody can make all of the decisions regarding the health, welfare and education of the child.

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

When one parent is awarded sole legal custody, that parent makes all decisions regarding the health, education, and welfare of the child and the other parent has no input on these decisions.

Physical Custody determines which parent has the actual, physical right to be with the child. Some states will award joint physical custody to both parents when the child spends significant amounts of time with both parents. If the child lives primarily with one parent and has visitation with the other, generally the parent that the child primarily lives with will have sole physical custody, with visitation to the other parent. Joint physical custody works best if parents live relatively near each other. This lessens the stress on the children and allows them to maintain a somewhat normal routine. Usually, joint physical custody is coupled with a parenting plan to determine who will be with the child at what particular time.

When one parent is given sole physical custody, the child remains with him or her and the other parent is excluded from having physical custody of the child. Typically when the other parent has abused or neglected the child, sole legal custody is granted.

Even where courts do award sole physical custody, the parents often share joint legal custody, and the noncustodial parent enjoys a generous visitation schedule. 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. Courts generally won't hesitate to award sole physical custody to one parent if the other parent is deemed unfit, because of alcohol or drug dependency, a new partner who is unfit, or charges of child abuse or neglect.

Shared custody gives both parents equal share in the legal and physical custody of the child. Shared custody is usually found only where both parents are able to resolve their personal differences and keep them in check for the sake of raising the child in a caring, nurturing environment.

When parents share the decision making responsibilities, physical control and custody of their children they have joint or shared custody. Joint custody can exist if the parents are divorced, separated, or no longer cohabiting, or even if they never lived together. It is common for couples that share physical custody to also share legal custody, but not necessarily the other way around.

Parents usually work out a schedule according to their work requirements and housing arrangements and the children's needs when they share custody. If the parents cannot agree on a schedule, the court will impose an arrangement.

Joint custody has the advantages of assuring the children continued contact and involvement with both parents. There are some disadvantages such as, the children must be shuttled around and maintaining two homes for the children can be expensive.

If you do have a joint custody arrangement, maintain detailed and organized financial records of your expenses. Keep receipts for groceries, school and after school activities, clothing, and medical care. At some point in time, your ex spouse may claim they have spent more money on the kids than you have and a judge will appreciate your detailed records.

Bird's nest custody is a joint custody arrangement where the children remain in the family home and the parents take turns moving in and out, spending their out time in separate housing of their own.

Next Page: What Are Some Common Visitations For Child Custody?

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