When deciding on child custody, the court will weigh many factors. These include the wishes of both parents (if a child is old enough to express them), the mental and physical health of the children’s parents, and the quality of each parent’s home environment.
A dangerous house environment, drug abuse, and a history of domestic violence can drastically impact custody arrangements. In these cases, supervised visits may be necessary.
Physical Custody
Physical custody deals with where the child lives on a day-to-day basis. If the judge awards one parent sole physical custody, that parent is referred to as the custodial parent. The noncustodial parent is generally granted reasonable visitation rights.
Parents can also share physical custody, often referred to as parenting time. This means the child will reside in each parent’s home for a significant amount of time, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be equal.
The courts will look at several factors when determining custody arrangements, including both parents’ homes, each parent’s work schedule, each parent’s stability, and the child’s best interests. The court will consider the child’s relationship with each parent and any history of abuse or neglect. However, the court will always favor an arrangement that allows the children to maintain a meaningful relationship with both of their parents. For that reason, many judges prefer to award joint physical custody. They also tend to view the assumption that a child should live with only one parent as flawed.
Legal Custody
Legal custody is a parent’s right to make decisions regarding their child. Typically, parents share legal custody equally, unless there are reasons (such as domestic violence or child neglect) to award sole legal custody to one parent. Parents may also request sole physical custody or joint legal custody. Typically, a judge will decide on a custody order after receiving a custody petition or hearing on the matter in family court.
Judges are generally moving away from sole custody arrangements, in which one parent gets to decide major issues concerning the child. Joint legal custody allows both parents to make decisions about the child, such as medical, religious, school, and extracurricular activities. Parents who choose to share joint physical custody usually create a parenting schedule, also known as a time-sharing plan. This could mean that the children spend roughly equal amounts of time with each parent, or that the children alternate weeks, months, and longer periods of time with each parent.
Visitation Rights
In deciding visitation rights, courts often give weight to the fact that parents want to play an active role in their children’s lives. However, if the noncustodial parent has a history of domestic violence or a drug addiction problem that affects their ability to care for their child, the court will typically not grant them visitation rights.
When deciding on physical custody arrangements, the court will often look at both parents’ daily work and life schedules as well as their living environments. The court may decide on joint physical or sole physical custody. In cases of joint legal custody, both parents share decision-making responsibilities and will have time-sharing schedules that work for them.
In joint physical custody cases, the court will often use a 3-4-4-3 schedule where the children spend 4 days with one parent followed by 3 days with the other. In cases of abuse, addiction or other concerns, the court may order supervised visits where a mental health professional is present.
Financial Support
Child custody arrangements outline who will be responsible for a child and how parents will share decision-making and parenting time. These arrangements are usually established in a court order that will be signed by the judge.
Parenting plans typically include a schedule of when children will be with each parent, a transportation plan and how holidays and vacations will be shared. It is also common for the parenting plan to address issues like how decisions will be made and how conflicts will be resolved.
Judges decide which parent will have legal and physical custody based on what is in the best interests of the child. They consider factors like the child’s health, welfare and emotional needs, as well as the parents’ abilities to nurture and provide a safe environment for the child.
A parent can lose their rights to a child under certain conditions, such as when a judge finds they are unfit due to past abuse, neglect or other dangerous circumstances that put the child in danger. A judge may also award sole custody to one parent.
