What is Child Custody?
Child custody is defined as guardianship over a child, which covers both physical custody and legal custody. In a child custody dispute, the court may award joint custody to both parents or sole custody to a single parent.
MaritalLaws.com is a great resource that has compiled custody laws for all 50 states.
The map below shows states that use a Cooperative Parent law. This refers to a state where a parent willing to allow the other parent visitation rights is given preference in a contested child custody case.
Visit our partner’s website for more detailed information and an in-depth description on Child Custody
Custody Definitions: Sole vs. Joint and Legal vs. Physical
Make sure you understand the differences between these types of custody and the state laws that apply to your case.
Sole Legal Custody – One parent, the one with sole physical custody, has all the decision-making rights concerning major life-altering decisions for the child, such as healthcare and education. The parent with visiting rights can make minor day-to-day decisions independently, but they have no legal authority to make life-altering, long term decisions for the child. This arrangement is unusual unless you are in a state where they lump legal and physical custody together or unless one parent has a history of abandonment or is somehow shown to be unfit to make decisions.
Joint Legal Custody– Both parents have equal legal decision-making rights concerning major, life-altering decisions such as healthcare and educational decisions. The courts want the child to benefit from both parents’ input and, therefore, typically award joint legal custody unless there is a strong reason to limit one parent’s authority or unless you are in one of those package deal states that lump legal and physical custody together. I have joint legal custody of my daughter, as does Jessica’s co-parent, even though we are the visiting parents.
Sole Physical Custody – The child resides with one parent most of the time, and the other parent has regular visitation rights. With infants, the courts were historically more likely to award mothers sole physical custody and give the father regular and frequent visitation rights, although there may be a trend towards joint physical custody in recent years.
Joint Physical Custody – The child spends approximately equal time residing with both parents. This works only when the homes are near each other geographically. It is typical in divorce cases with older children but probably becoming the default in most cases with younger children, too. Most courts want both parents to be equally involved whenever possible.