When parents separate or divorce, one of the most important questions they face is: Who will make decisions for the child, and where will the child live? Many parents hear the terms “legal custody” and “physical custody” but aren’t always sure what each one actually means—or how they impact their role in their child’s life.
Understanding the difference between these two types of custody is essential for protecting your parental rights and creating a stable, supportive environment for your child.
What is Legal Custody?
A parent with legal custody of a child has the right to make decisions about the child’s medical care, schooling and education, and religious upbringing.
Parents can also be awarded joint legal custody, giving both parents the ability to share in the decision making regarding their child. The parents have equal rights to the child’s medical and educational records.
Joint legal custody does not necessarily impact where the child lives. It does, however, protect the parent with visitation rights or secondary physical custody. With joint legal custody in place, the parent who has visitation cannot be cut out of the decision-making process.
What is Physical Custody?
Physical custody grants a parent the right, and requirement, to take care of their child on a daily basis and to have the child live with them.
One parent is usually designated as the “primary physical custodian” and the second parent as the “secondary physical custodian”. When possible—depending on the best interests of the child—courts can award joint physical custody to parents. Join physical custody is an arrangement where a child spends significant, substantial periods of time living with both parents, usually on an alternating schedule decided by the parents or the court.
Physical custody is decided by the court and is based on several important factors. In New Jersey, these factors can include: the child’s relationship with each parent, the parents’ ability to co-parent, and the child’s safety and stability.
How do I Protect my Parental Rights
Deciding on custody is never easy—it is an emotional and tense discussion—and you shouldn’t have to navigate it alone. It is important to understand and exercise your rights as a parent, and an experienced family law attorney—like our attorneys at Giro & Associates, LLC—can support, protect, and advocate for, you and your child’s best interested
To begin getting the support you and your child deserve, call our River Edge, New Jersey Law Office at 201-502-7834, or send us a message with a brief description of your situation, and we will get back to you right away.