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When spouses who have children are planning a divorce, the custody of their children should be uppermost in their mind. A family law/divorce judge considers child custody matters to be the most important matters in any divorce involving minor children ─ more important by far than "whose fault the divorce is" or "who gets what" in a division of assets. Give a lot of thought to what is best for your children after your divorce, and to what type of child custody arrangement you will seek from the court.
Legal and Physical Custody
The two aspects of child custody are legal custody and physical custody . Each of these can be held as sole custody or joint custody. Briefly:
Legal custody grants a parent the right to make the decisions regarding the upbringing of the couple's child or children, including decisions about medical care, education, and religion.
Physical custody grants a parent the right to have the child or children live with him or her.
Sole custody grants only one of the parents legal custody and physical custody of their child.
Joint custody grants the legal or physical custody (or both) to both the father and mother of the children. When these parents are awarded joint legal custody, they are legally bound to make decisions about their child's upbringing together . When the parents are awarded joint physical custody of their child, the court is ordering that the child spend equal time living with the father and the mother.
If there is more than one child in a family (a sibling pair or group), a court will often order that the custody arrangement for all of the children in a family be the same. However, in some cases the siblings' custody details will differ.
Visitation Arrangements
In addition, the visitation rights of a parent who doesn't get physical custody of his or her child may be dealt with in a divorce decree. The non-custodial parent may be given:
Reasonable visitation: left to the parents to determine
Fixed visitation: the court specifically orders the times, places, and duration of visits
Supervised visitation: an adult supervisor must be present during each visit
Talk with a Divorce Attorney about Child Custody
To discuss your specific circumstances and child custody concerns, talk to an experienced divorce attorney near you today.