To make a joint custody arrangement work, both you and your ex will have to be ready to compromise and cooperate. Judges must consider the best interests of the child when creating a child custody order.
For most judges, this means among other things not bringing the child back to court any more than is necessary. So, to reduce the need for further hearings, the judge in a contested hearing may order that one parent has final decision-making authority on all decisions.
Or, the judge can give authority to one parent for some issues and the other parent for other issues. In a joint physical custody arrangement, both parents get to spend time with the child. The alternative is sole physical custody, which involves the child being with one parent almost all the time while the other parent gets very little time. When one parent has sole custody, the other parent may have to make child support payments.
Because joint physical custody requires a lot of travel and communication from both parents, this type of custody works best when both parents live and work in the same area. Legal custody and physical custody are separate issues, so both parents can share physical custody while only one parent has legal custody. If one parent has sole legal custody of the child, then that parent will make final decisions about education, healthcare, and activities outside of school.
An experienced family law attorney from our team will meet with you to answer your questions, help you understand your options, and create a plan for what comes next. Barring domestic violence in the family, a special-needs child, relevant and special circumstances, or long distances between the parents' addresses, joint legal custody is presumed to be in the best interest of the child. There are general factors leading to determining the best interests of a child, including but not limited to:.
Parents should not interpret a ruling of joint legal custody as an indication that the court is likely to also grant joint physical custody. It is quite common for parents to share legal custody even while the child resides primarily with one parent and has regular visitation with the other. There are many types of custody and visitation granted by courts.
They generally fall into two buckets including joint physical and sole physical:. In this type of arrangement, the child has two residences and spends equal time living with each parent. Joint physical custody usually works best when both parents live within the same city or region.
Both parents make important decisions about the child and work together to decide on major issues, such as upbringing, religion, medical procedures and treatments, schooling, and more. Communication must be a priority between the parents for this type of arrangement to work. There also is some evidence that children in this arrangement fair better than those that are in sole-custody situation.
In this type of arrangement, the child would spend more time living with one parent. However, both parents make important decisions about their child's life. The parents must work together to make decisions on the upbringing of the child, even if the child has only one primary residence. It's important to note that one parent may have the authority to be the "tiebreaker" in cases of disagreement, or each parent may be given decision-making authority in certain areas or situations.
Joint custody has its benefits and drawbacks for both the child and the parents. Parents considering their custody options should consider the following:. Parents who share joint legal custody must continue to communicate with one another in order to reach joint decisions. Even when one or both parents are reluctant at first, the outcome can be very beneficial for the child. Children typically benefit from seeing their parents interact genuinely with one another, ideally demonstrating what it means to compromise and work through disagreements in a healthy manner.
Joint legal custody also called shared legal custody, shared parental responsibility, etc. The alternative is sole legal custody , where one parent has full responsibility to make major decisions for the child. You need to specify in your parenting plan which legal custody option your family will use. This determines who makes decisions about your children's education, medical care, religion and more. Custody X Change is software that creates professional parenting plans and parenting time schedules.
Make My Schedule and Plan Now. You can have joint legal custody with sole physical custody or joint physical custody , which determine who your child lives with. Joint legal custody is a way to give both parents a say in their child's upbringing. It is meant for cases in which both parents are able and available to make important decisions. In many states, it is the default option or is at least preferred over sole legal custody. In these states, sole legal custody is awarded when joint legal custody isn't in the best interest of the child.
If you share joint legal custody with the other parent and you exclude him or her from the decision-making process, your ex can take you back to court and ask the judge to enforce the custody agreement.
You won't get fined or go to jail, but it will probably be embarrassing and cause more friction between the two of you -- which may harm the children. What's more, if you're represented by an attorney, it's sure to be expensive. If you believe the circumstances between you and your child's other parent make it impossible to share joint legal custody the other parent won't communicate with you about important matters or is abusive , you can go to court and ask for sole legal custody.
But, in many states, joint legal custody is preferred, so you will have to convince a family court judge that it is not in the best interests of your child. One parent can have either sole legal custody or sole physical custody of a child. Courts generally won't hesitate to award sole physical custody to one parent if the other parent is deemed unfit -- for example, because of alcohol or drug dependency or charges of child abuse or neglect. However, in most states, courts are moving away from awarding sole custody to one parent and toward enlarging the role both parents play in their children's lives.
Even where courts do award sole physical custody, the parties often still share joint legal custody, and the noncustodial parent enjoys a generous visitation schedule. In these situations, 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 under a parenting agreement or schedule.
It goes without saying that there may be animosity between you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse. But it's best not to seek sole custody unless the other parent truly causes direct harm to the children.
Even then, courts may still allow the other parent supervised visitation. Joint custody can exist if the parents are divorced, separated, or no longer cohabiting, or even if they never lived together.
Joint custody may be:.
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