For unmarried parents and divorcing couples, splitting up custody of their children is a very important legal process. They need to have their rights clearly defined so that they understand what role they have in the child’s life.
One key distinction that adults need to be aware of is that there are actually two different types of child custody. These are known as physical custody and legal custody. While related, they govern very different aspects of the child’s life, and they do not have to be split between the parents in the same way.
Physical custody
When a parent has physical custody of a child, they are the one present with that child, caring for them, providing for their needs, giving them a place to live and much more. Parents often think about physical custody first when going through the court process.
Legal custody
When it comes to legal custody rights, however, the goal is to focus on how parents can make decisions for a child that they are not able to make on their own. These often revolve around medical care, religious decisions, educational decisions and things of this nature.
There are some cases in which both parents will have physical custody, but only one will have legal custody, meaning that they get to make all of these important decisions on their own.
There are other cases, however, where legal custody will be shared jointly, so the parents still have an obligation to work together. If one parent independently makes a decision about enrolling the child in school or authorizing medical care, it can sometimes create a conflict because they may have infringed on the rights of the other co-parent.
It is important to understand how these details work when going through the initial court case or if a dispute arises in the future. Parents must know what legal steps they will need to take.
