If you are trying to decide custody of your children in a divorce situation, it is very important that you contact an attorney at the firm today to learn more about your options regarding child custody. With the right family attorney on your side, you may be able to argue for your preferable custody arrangement and effectively achieve this plan.

There are four major types of custody that the courts will grant, and they fall under two categories. There are two options concerning legal custody and two options regarding physical custody. There is a difference between legal custody and physical custody, and there are times that a parent can have physical custody of a child without legal custody or vice versa.

A parent with legal custody is the parent that is responsible for making decisions on the child's behalf. This means that this parent may be in charge of deciding the child's education, healthcare, religion, living arrangements, travel arrangements, extra-curricular activities and more. This parent will be the child's ultimate authority and is the parent that is consulted about any situations at school. In some cases, the court will award both parents legal custody. This is the first type of child custody, and is known as joint legal custody.

Normally, the court will only allow joint legal custody if the judge is certain that two divorcees can work towards an amicable relationship with one another. Most divorced parents are too estranged to make important decisions about their child's future together. They may fall into arguments and be unable to provide for the child by making decisions in his or her best interest. In all child custody cases, the court is primarily concerned with the child's best interests, and in most situations joint legal custody will not provide best for the child.

That is why there is a second option for child custody, known as sole legal custody. This is when one parent has the ultimate authority to make all decisions on the child's behalf until he or she is of age to make his or her own decisions. This is only one aspect of custody, and only regards the decision-making aspects. This means that in some situations, one parent may have sole legal custody of the children, but the other parent may have sole physical custody. This arrangement is rare, however, because it can often confuse parents.

This leads to the third type of child custody: joint physical custody. This is when a child lives with both parents. In many situations, the joint physical custody arrangement is not perfectly even. When children have school, it is difficult to divide time with both parents evenly. This may mean that one parent will become the primary custodian of the children, but the other parent will still have custodial rights. If the court does not believe that it is best for the children to spend time with both parents, then the court can award sole physical custody. This is when one parent has full custody of the child. This does not mean that the other parent is not permitted to visit the child.

Oftentimes, the courts demand that a parent that does not have custody can still visit the child, whether those visits are supervised or not. The only time that visitation may be banned is if the other spouse is able to successfully file a restraining order against the non0custodial spouse. If you want more information about child custody situation or need guidance in your own case, then talk with an attorney at a family law firm near you today!