Family

8 Basic Types of Child Custody

by: Patricia Strasser

Legal custody, physical custody, sole legal custody, sole physical custody, joint legal custody, joint physical custody, bird's nest custody, and temporary custody are the basic child custody used in family court.

Several child custody options are established in a family court. It is important for a parent to know their difference, as well as the every type of custody to fully practice their parenting right during a trial in a family court. The major components of child custody is primarily divided into two:

Legal custody

This is the legal authority of the primary parent to provide major decisions for the child. Major decisions include the choice of education, religion, residence, and medical options.

Physical custody

Physical custody is where the child or children will physically stay or reside generally. This is granted to the legal authority where the child or children will stay, sleep, eat, live, and etc.

The major components of custody will be more specified to the actual effect of common combination of child custody:

Sole legal custody

Also referred to as full custody, where the primary parent is granted with 90% of the child's time. The primary parent makes the final decision regarding education, health care, religion, residence and etc. The other parent of the other cannot have a right to such major decision for the child and is also granted visitation rights or depending on the court's decision.

Sole physical custody

The custodian is granted the rights for the child to physically stay with him or her. It is his right to have the child reside in his place. In most cases the other parent will only be given a limited visitation right.

Joint legal custody

It is a grant where both parents have an equal right in making major decisions in behalf of the child. In cases where both parents do not agree on the same major decision, the court provides the decision for the child. In most cases the court usually give its side to the primary parent having the primary physical custody. It is possible for both parent to share joint legal custody even without the joint physical custody.

Joint physical custody

Joint physical custody is also referred to as "shared custody" or "shared parenting". The set-up is granting both parents the right as "Primary custodian". The child or children will reside with both parents on an equal given time agreement.

Bird's nest custody

It is the custody where the child will live in a single location and both the parents are granted equal rights for a rotating residential schedule. For example the mother may live with the child's residence during weekdays only, while the father may live with them during weekends.

Temporary custody

Temporary custody is the grant of a parent to temporarily have the custody rights while the litigation of a divorce trial. This is a common tendency for the court to grant such custody until the divorced is finally ordered.

In most cases, the court will usually favor the primary parent. As much as possible to avoid any settlements with the granted custodian against the court ruling to avoid conflict.

See Also:

The Effect of Divorce on Children
A blended family introduces a number of issues including family system disruption, reduced resources, step family member conflict and the parental conflict.

Always refer to a legal attorney for any custodial advice. If you opt for some Sacramento family law attorneys, you can search for them at http://www.keeganmyers.com/ . They are practically serving the greater part of Sacramento.