Child Custody Attorneys FAQ
What is a parenting plan?
Child custody decisions are written in a parenting plan. When creating a parenting plan, you’ll need to make important choices for your child and family. Here are some important things that may need to go in a parenting plan:
- Dividing Parenting Time. Co-parents will need to decide how to share time with the children. In some cases, one parent has custody of the child most of the time. In other cases, parents split time with the children.
- Residence. Parents will need to decide where the children will live. Will the children live primarily with one parent? Will the children share time with both parents?
- Transportation. Parents will need to outline how children will be transported to and from scheduled parenting time.
- Decision-Making. Parents will need to decide which parent will make decisions for the children. If both parents will make decisions, how will disputes be resolved? Parents generally need to make decisions about education, health care, and religion, but other major decisions can also arise. Sometimes one parent makes decisions about aspects of the child’s life, like healthcare, while the other handles religion and education. Other times, one parent is appointed the sole decision-maker.
A child custody lawyer can help you navigate the most important decision you and your former partner need to make during your divorce. Deciding where your children will live, who will have primary custody, and how major life decisions will be made is not something that most parents approach lightly. USAttorneys.com can match you with a child custody attorney near you who can help you navigate these challenges.
What is the difference between physical and legal custody?
Legal custody refers to parental rights more generally. It refers to each parent’s right to make decisions for their children. In a divorce or separation, generally, both parents retain legal custody. Physical custody refers to where the children will live. When parents split, usually one parent has primary physical custody. Sometimes, however, parents choose to divide physical custody evenly or as evenly as possible. In most modern divorces, the courts tend to favor awarding shared parenting time, where both parents share time with the children.
What is physical custody?
Physical custody refers to the time that the parent physically resides with the child. In many cases, the children will reside with both parents who share parenting time, and the court will award joint physical custody. In this arrangement one parent may spend more time with the children. Or, the children may reside primarily with one parent.
What is sole custody?
Sole custody refers to a parenting arrangement in which the child only resides with one parent. While sole custody is rare, the court may award sole custody in certain situations. If a parent has chronic health issues, mental health issues, abuse, drug addiction, or other issues, sole custody may be awarded.
What is sole legal and physical custody?
In some rare cases, one parent is deemed unfit to parent or doesn’t want to participate in the child’s life. In these cases, one parent might receive sole legal and physical custody. In most cases, the courts and judges favor custody arrangements where both parents play a role in their children’s lives.
Your child custody attorney can review your goals for parenting time and child custody and help you find a compromise that works best for your family. Virtually all child custody arrangements involve some form of compromise.
What is the primary and secondary residential parent?
The primary residential parent is the child’s primary home address. The primary residential parent often spends the most time with the child. The child will use this parent’s address as the child’s residential address. This address often determines which public school the child will attend. The secondary residential parent is the parent the child often visits on weekends and holidays or the parent with whom the child spends less time.
Deciding where your children will live after divorce or separation can be one of the most difficult and most crucial decisions you’ll make during your divorce. A child custody lawyer can assist you with the process. USAttorneys.com can match you with the best child custody lawyer for your needs.
What is the “best interests of the child” standard?
The “best interests of the child” standard is a standard used by the courts to make parenting plan determinations when the child’s parents cannot resolve their differences out of court. While the language of the “best interests of the child” standards can vary from state to state, they usually instruct judges to make decisions that protect the child’s emotional, physical, and mental health. The courts may look at a variety of factors when determining the child’s best interests.
For example:
- 15 states including the District of Columbia look closely at a child’s emotional ties with parents and siblings, and other caregivers when determining the best interests. 10 other states look at the capacity of each parent to provide a stable home for the children.
- Nine states look at the mental and physical health of each parent.
- Nine states evaluate whether there was domestic violence in the home.
Because the “best interests of the child” standards can be sometimes vague, the ways that they are interpreted can sometimes vary from judge to judge. For this reason, it is often best when parents can resolve their co-parenting differences outside of court with the help of their child custody attorneys.
What are the different types of child custody?
The types of child custody are:
- Joint Legal and Physical Custody
- Joint Legal Custody and Sole Physical Custody
- Sole Legal and Physical Custody
Joint Legal and Physical Custody
Most parenting plan arrangements are joint legal and physical custody arrangements. With joint legal and physical custody both parents make decisions for the children and both parents split time with their children. Parents can have joint legal and physical custody even if they are not living together. Parenting time is shared as is decision-making.
A child custody lawyer can help you and your former partner work out a parenting time arrangement that works for your family. There are many different arrangements that co-parents may choose. These arrangements include:
- One parent has primary custody while the other parent spends holidays and weekends with the children.
- The parents split parenting time evenly. Each parent has specific days of the week and weekends where they split time with the children.
- The children remain in the family home with the parents moving into the home during parenting time. Both parents may have their own separate apartments or homes outside the home where the children stay.
- Or any other arrangement the parents find acceptable for their family.
Joint legal and physical custody requires compromise. The best child custody lawyer for your family can help you find the compromise that works best for your family. Contact USAttorneys.com today to connect with a child custody lawyer near you.
Joint Legal Custody and Sole Physical Custody
With joint legal custody and sole physical custody, the child lives with one parent and spends all his or her time with this parent. The other parent retains legal custody of the child. This means this parent still has the right to make decisions on behalf of the child. This arrangement may work if one parent is unable to parent the child but does not want to lose custody. It may also work when one parent lives far away or out of state. Another situation where this arrangement might be needed temporarily or long-term is where one parent is deployed.
Sole Legal and Physical Custody
If one parent is unable to perform his or her duties or gives up parental rights, one parent may be awarded sole legal and physical custody. This arrangement is rare. The courts typically favor arrangements where both parents retain parental rights and spend time with their children. To obtain sole legal custody, a parent would need to show the court that sole custody is in the best interests of the child.
