Legal Custody, Joint Custody, and Sole Custody
Divorce in and of itself is difficult enough, and typically involves contradictory emotions of fear, relief, guilt, shock, betrayal, and insecurity. If children are involved in a divorce or placed in the middle of a child custody or child support dispute, these emotions can be magnified many times over. Our family law lawyers represent the best interests of children, mothers, and fathers in a variety of areas of family law. To learn more about legal custody, physical, custody, sole custody, and joint custody, please read on.
Legal Custody
Legal custody of a child or children is the right and obligation to make decisions about a child's upbringing. A parent with legal, for example, makes decisions regarding school, extracurricular activities, and medical and dental care. In many states, courts award joint legal custody to the parents, which means that the mother and father share the decision making. If you share joint legal custody with the other parent and exclude him or her from the decision-making process, your ex-spouse can take you back to court and ask the judge to enforce the original custody agreement.
Physical Custody
Physical custody is the right of a parent to have a child live with him. Some states recognize the concept of joint physical custody where the child spends approximately half the time in each parent's home. The latter arrangement is tricky and should be considered only if you have an amicable, respectful relationship with your ex-spouse. Also, it works best if you live near the other parent. This lessens the stress on children and allows them to maintain a somewhat normal routine.
Sole Custody
Sole custody means that only the custodial parent has physical custody and legal custody of a child, and that the noncustodial parent has visitation rights. In most states, courts are moving away from awarding sole custody to one parent, and they are often enlarging the role a father plays in his children's lives. This translates into physical custody for one parent with joint legal custody shared by both -- plus a generous visitation schedule. Courts may not hesitate to award physical custody to the father if the mother is deemed unfit -- for example, because of alcohol or drug dependency, an unfit boyfriend or child abuse or neglect charges. It's understandable that there may be animosity between you and your ex-spouse, but sole custody shouldn't be sought or awarded unless the parent is a direct harm to the children. Even then courts may simply order supervised visitation, while still allowing joint legal custody.
Joint Custody
Parents who don't live together have joint custody, sometimes called shared custody, when they agree, or a court orders them, to share the decision-making responsibilities for, and/or physical control and custody of, their children. Joint custody can exist if the parents are divorced, separated, no longer cohabiting or even if they never lived together. Joint custody may be joint legal custody, joint physical custody or both. It is common for couples who share physical custody to also share legal custody, but not necessarily the other way around.
Usually, when parents share joint custody, they work out joint physical custody according to their schedules and living arrangements. If the parents cannot agree, the court will impose an arrangement. A common pattern is for children to split weeks between each parent's house. Other joint physical custody arrangements include alternating years or six-month periods, or spending weekends and holidays with one parent while spending weekdays with the other.
Joint custody has the advantages of assuring the children continuing contact and involvement with both parents, and alleviating some of the burdens of parenting for each parent. There are, of course, disadvantages -- children must be shuttled around, parental non-cooperation can have seriously devastating effects on children and maintaining two homes for the children can be expensive.
We represent families throughout Central Florida, including Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and other communities in the counties of Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Sumter, Hernando, Polk and Orange. For all of your family law needs, the attorneys at our firm stand ready to assist. We offer an extensive initial consultation for the fee of $200.00 where we discuss your family law matter in depth. We will give you an honest assessment of your case in light of the facts, case law, and our extensive experience. The $200 consultation fee is applied directly toward any retainer. For further information about our family law attorneys please contact us at our office in Tampa, Florida today. To learn the answers to a variety of Frequently Asked Questions, please click here to go to our FAQ page. For immediate assistance call us toll-free at 1-888-452-3043 or in Tampa, Florida at 813-254-3516.
