Are you a parent filing for divorce? One of your worries as you begin the divorce process may be the future of your children. You might have concerns about your spouse’s parenting methods and child custody. You can ease your fears by understanding how child custody works and your custody arrangement options.
The basics of child custody include legal and physical custody. Legal and physical custody refers to the rights of each parent and their responsibilities toward their children. Legal custody gives parents the right to decide what is best for their children, including major decisions related to education, health care, and the like. Physical custody is a parent’s obligation to provide supervision, housing, food, clothing and other basic needs for their children during prescribed residential time.
As you explore your child custody options, you will want to consider how involved your children’s other parent has been and will be in your children’s lives. There are a few custody arrangement options that determine whether parents have legal or physical custody of their children. Here is what you should know:
Joint custody with a co-parent
Child custody decisions should be determined by what is in a child’s best interests. In some cases, the best interests of a child include having parents share custody rights. This is often referred to as a joint custody arrangement.
Joint custody means that you and your spouse co-parent your children and split legal and physical custody. In other words, you and your spouse continue to decide what is best for your children and the amount of time each of you has with your children. To maintain physical custody, you and your co-parent can create a daily custody schedule, which allows you to rotate the days your child lives with you.
Sole custody and visitation
You may not want your spouse to be involved in your children’s life. There may be reasons behind this decision, including substance abuse problems, criminal history, or child abuse or neglect. You could seek sole custody, which gives you full legal and physical custody of your children. Your spouse may be allowed some residential time, which allows them to see your children on designated days and times—depending on the nature of any limitations the court may order.
You may need to seek legal guidance as you consider your child custody options.