What Kinds Of Child Custody Arrangements Are There?

There are several different kinds of child custody arrangements. When parents go through a divorce, they have the option of working out those child custody arrangements on their own. However, in many cases, they are not able to come to an agreeable decision. When this happens, the court will have to determine the child custody arrangement.

There are four basic kinds of child custody arrangements. They include joint legal custody, sole legal custody, sole physical custody, and joint physical custody. While the specifics of each kind may vary from one state to the next, the custody types do share certain characteristics.

To start with, there are two types of legal custody arrangements. Legal custody refers primarily to the rights and responsibilities as they relate to the child. These sorts of areas might include things like health, education, and general well-being. Joint legal custody is when both parents have these rights and responsibilities. Joint legal custody requires that the parents will be able to work together with one another for the benefits of the children. It also requires that the parents provide a detailed plan to the court about how the joint legal custody would work.

The other sort of legal custody arrangement is sole legal custody, in which one parent retains those legal rights and responsibilities. This is the most common sort of legal custody in a divorce. In this sort of custody, the non-custodial parent may still have visitation rights, but has few other rights in regard to the children.

There are also two types of physical custody arrangements. The first one, sole physical custody, is a situation in which one parent has the majority of contact with the child, and the child lives exclusively with that parent. With sole physical custody, the non-custodial parent may again still retain visitation rights. Joint physical custody is a child custody arrangement in which both parents have large amounts of contact with the child. While this doesn’t have to be exactly 50-50, some states do have very specific guidelines for joint physical child custody arrangements.

Your divorce or family law attorney may be able to help you further understand the kinds of chld custody arrangments in your state.

Posted in Child Custody