Child Custody

Child custody refers to the rights and obligations between parents, regarding their children, after or during a divorce, legal separation, or paternity decree.

Child custody is legally broken down into two separate components. Legal custody defines the decision-making rights regarding education, healthcare, and other major life decisions. Typically, it is ideal that these decisions would be agreed upon by both parents. While equal authority regarding decision making is preferred by the courts, there are situations in which one parent is given the deciding vote. Whether or not this would apply to you would be best determined by speaking with a lawyer.

The second component is physical custody, which centers around the concept of “time sharing.” Time sharing defines how much time each parent physically has with the child or children. There is no set schedule for time-sharing. It is determined on a case-by-case basis, and typically reflects the schedule of the parents. The amount of time spent with each parent may also have impacts on Parental Responsibility and support. For example, if one parent has “full custody” of the child, then it would be likely that they would have more responsibility in decision making for the child, as well as receive a higher level of support payment.