Child custody facts for kids
Child custody is a legal term regarding guardianship which is used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent or guardian and a child in that person's care. Child custody consists of legal custody, which is the right to make decisions about the child, and physical custody, which is the right and duty to house, provide and care for the child. Married parents normally have joint legal and physical custody of their children. Decisions about child custody typically arise in proceedings involving divorce, annulment, separation, adoption or parental death. In most jurisdictions child custody is determined in accordance with the best interests of the child standard.
Following ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in most countries, terms such as parental responsibility, "residence" and "contact" (also known as "visitation", "conservatorship" or "parenting time" in the United States) have superseded the concepts of "custody" and "access" in some member nations. Instead of a parent having "custody" of or "access" to a child, a child is now said to "reside" or have "contact" with a parent.
Contents
Legal custody
Legal custody involves the division of rights between the parents to make important life decisions relating to their minor children. Such decisions may include choice of a child's school, physician, medical treatments, orthodontic treatment, counseling, psychotherapy and religion.
Legal custody may be joint, in which case both parents share decision-making rights, or sole, in which case one parent has the rights to make key decisions without regard to the wishes of the other parent.
Physical custody
Physical custody establishes where a child lives and who decides day-to-day issues regarding the child. If a parent has physical custody of a child, that parent's home will normally be the child's legal residence (domicile). The times during which parents provide lodging and care for the child is defined by a court-ordered custody parenting schedule, also known as a parenting plan.
Forms
The different forms of physical custody include:
- Sole custody, an arrangement whereby only one parent has physical custody of the child. The other non-custodial parent would typically have regular visitation rights.
- Joint physical custody, a shared parenting arrangement where both parents have the child for approximately equal amounts of time, and where both are custodial parents.
- Bird's nest custody, a type of joint physical custody whereby the parents go back and forth from a residence in which the child always reside, placing the burden of upheaval and movement on the parents rather than the child.
- Split custody, an arrangement whereby one parent has sole custody over some children, and the other parent has sole custody over the remaining children.
- Alternating custody, an arrangement whereby the child lives for an extended period of time with one parent and an alternate amount of time with the other parent. This type of arrangement is also referred to as Divided custody.
- Third-party custody, an arrangement whereby the children do not remain with either biological parent, and are placed under the custody of a third person.
Joint physical custody
Joint physical custody, or shared parenting, means that the child lives with both parents for equal or approximately equal amounts of time. In joint custody, both parents are custodial parents and neither parent is a non-custodial parent. With joint physical custody, terms such as "primary custodial parent" and "primary residence" have no legal meaning other than for determining tax status. The term "visitation" is not used in joint physical custody cases, but only for sole custody orders. In joint physical custody, the actual lodging and care of the child is shared according to a court-ordered custody schedule, also known as a parenting plan or parenting schedule.
Sole custody
Sole physical custody means that a child resides with only one parent, while the other parent may have visitation rights with his/her child. The former parent is the custodial parent while the latter is the non-custodial parent.
The "best interest" rule
In the context of cases regarding custody, the "best interest" rule suggests that all legal decisions made to accommodate the child are made with the goal of ensuring a child's happiness, security and overall well being. There are many different factors that go into the decision that is made in a child's best interest, which include: the child's health, environment and social interests, the relationship each parent has with the child, and the ability of each parent to address the needs of the child.
The laws about child custody will vary from one country to another.
Related pages
See also
In Spanish: Autoridad parental para niños
