If you`re reading this and find that you`re unlikely to have 50-50 joint physical custody, don`t despair. You will still have unsupervised visits with your child overnight, it just won`t be as frequent as half the year. You`re no less of a parent than your counterpart, and you`re probably doing what`s best for your child. Make sure you understand the differences between these types of detention before you sit down with your attorney to discuss expectations given your situation and the state laws applicable to your case. The websites on our Useful Links page, such as www.maritallaws.com/laws/custody can help you understand what is typical in your condition, but you will need to discuss the details with your lawyer. For older children with 50-50 shared custody, you can do 2-2-5-5, which is repeated fourteen days in half with mom, two with dad, five with mom, five with dad, and then again. This schedule reduces transitions and allows for longer periods together. Sole custody – A parent, the one who has sole physical custody, has full decision-making rights regarding important decisions that change the child`s life, such as health and education. The visiting parent can make minor day-to-day decisions independently, but they do not have the legal authority to make long-term decisions that change the child`s life.
This arrangement is unusual unless you are in a state where legal and physical custody are combined, or unless a parent has a history of abandonment or is unable to make decisions. Custody gives the parent the opportunity to make decisions for the child. A parent with legal custody of a child has the right to make decisions regarding medical care, schooling and upbringing of the child, and religious education. Parents who hope or request 50-50 joint physical custody simply because they want to reduce their support obligation should reconsider this strategy. We will discuss financial support in another post, but suffice it to say that this is not the right reason to push for joint physical custody. In any discussion of child custody, it`s important to remember that there are actually two different types of custody. Custody refers to both legal and physical custody of a child. Custody is the power to make decisions for and about a child. Joint custody does not mean that children have to spend exactly half the time with each parent. Usually, children spend a little more time with 1 parent than with the other, as it is too difficult to divide the time exactly in half. If 1 parent has the children more than half the time, that parent is sometimes referred to as the “primary custodial parent.” In this type of agreement, the child has two apartments and spends the same time with each parent.
Joint custody usually works best when both parents live in the same city or region. If you find yourself in the all-too-common battle between the mother asking for the only person and the father asking for joint custody of a child, try to compromise. Offer joint physical custody, but with a very long transition period where the child spends more time with the mother in the early years and works with both parents for up to 50-50 hours as school age approaches. The only problem with this would be if one party decided to move further, but you could cover this in your agreement by writing that the party moving is wasting time with the child or having to make all the long-distance trips. Children who see their parents interact positively, as shared custody requires, learn to compromise and overcome disagreements. A child is more likely to have healthy self-esteem if their parents are able to work together. Communication skills are essential for this type of custody arrangement to work, and it can quickly go south if both parents are not on board. Sole physical custody – The child lives with one parent most of the time, and the other parent has regular visitation rights.
In the case of infants, the courts have always been more inclined to grant sole custody to mothers and to grant regular and frequent visitation rights to the father, although there may have been a trend towards joint physical custody in recent years. Once you`ve determined the right jurisdiction and found your lawyer, the next thing you need to think about is what kind of custody agreement you`re going to look for. The terms can get a little confusing, but it`s not that complicated. Joint custody means that both parents have the legal authority to make important decisions for the child. This includes decisions about education, religion and health care. Sole custody of a child means that one of the parents has the right to make all decisions about the child`s upbringing. Joint custody means that both parents have an equal and legal right to make decisions about their child`s upbringing. (These are the two types of detention that the legal community is increasingly calling “decision-making.”) Sometimes, when transferring custody to one parent would harm the children, the courts give custody to someone other than the parents because it is in the best interests of the children. Usually, this is called “guardianship,” where someone who is not the parent applies for custody of the children because the parents cannot care for them. Click here for more information on guardianship.