Any parent going through a divorce worries about how custody of their children will be determined. When custody is given to one or both parents, the visitation also needs to be decided. Visitation decides how the parents will spend their time with the child. When there are disagreements regarding custody or visitations, the court needs to step in to resolve the issue.
The best way to avoid uncertainty, anxiety, and mistrust is to make decisions in consultation with your attorney.
Keep reading to clarify your thoughts about child custody and visitation issues.
Types of Custody
The Family Court makes custody decisions for a child or children based on the circumstances and the child’s best interests. There are two types of custody:
Legal Custody
Legal custody is when a parent has the authority to make choices about the child’s upbringing. All significant decisions affecting their child’s welfare, education, travel, residence, and health will fall under their purview. One or both parents may be given the privilege.
There are generally two different types of legal custody:
Sole Legal Custody: means that only one parent has the right to decide on the child’s upbringing.
Joint Legal Custody: means that both parents have equal authority over major decisions about the child’s upbringing.
Physical Custody
Physical custody is the term used to describe where a child lives and spends time.
There are two types of physical custody:
Primary Physical Custody: means that the child primarily lives with one parent.
Joint Physical Custody: means that both parents share equal responsibility for the child
Several disputes can arise regarding visitation rights. Regardless of the nature of the dispute, the family court will decide based on ‘the best interests of the child.’
There are different types of visitations like schedule-based visitation, where each parent gets to spend a certain amount of time based on a schedule, reasonable visitations are generally open-ended, and it is up to the parents to devise a plan. There are also supervised visitations where the non-custodial parents spend a fixed amount of time with the child under the supervision of a professional or non-professional visitation monitor. The court can also decide for one parent to have no visitations.
Getting divorced and dealing with custody and visitations issues is emotionally and physically draining. Getting the right legal advice and guidance from the dedicated attorneys of Broaden Law will ease the whole process. The client-first approach in this firm has helped many individuals, families, and small businesses solve all kinds of legal issues. Contact (619) 567- 6845 or click here for more details.