Different Types Of Child Custody Arrangements
Once a couple decides to divorce, if they have children, the key question quickly becomes painfully obvious: Who will get to have custody of the children? It is usually the most fractious question in a divorce. One of the most important requirements in going through a child custody case is to have a thorough understanding of the various types of custody arrangements. This article discusses the most common of them.
First, some definitions. “Legal Custody” means that a guardian has the right to make the decisions that affect the children, including areas like education, medical care, religious upbringing, as well as any legal issues. “Physical Custody” means the right to decide where the children will live, and to the responsibility of seeing to their daily needs, including full responsibility for their well-being.
Sole Custody: When one parent is awarded sole legal and physical custody, that parent then has total responsibility for the children’s physical needs, and all decisions that have to be made in regard to the matters described above. In other cases, one parent may be awarded sole physical custody, but the legal custody may be shared. This type of situation might occur when the living situation of the non-custodial parent is not conducive to the well-being of the children, but the parent is otherwise capable of making sound judgments regarding their welfare.
Joint Custody: When joint custody is ruled, both parents will share custody of the children. Shared physical custody will require that the parents work out daily and weekly schedules that make it possible for the children to divide their time between the parents’ locations. Usually, a fixed schedule is set up, which helps lower the stress that the children feel. This only works when both parents are in the same locality, so that the children can remain in their schools. When the parents’ locations are too far apart, shared physical custody must be altered to take account of school schedules, with visits to the parent away from the school district possibly limited to weekends and summers.
Joint legal custody is straightforward, as it isn’t likely that areas of legal custody would be divided between the parents. For example, it would seem strange if a parent were to be considered capable of sharing in legal decisions for the children, but incapable of taking part in decisions regarding their medical care.
Bird’s-Nest Custody: Although it is probably the most elegant custody arrangement, it is also the least common – and for some very good reasons. In most cases it is certainly the best arrangement for the children, but it also requires the maximum cooperation and self-sacrifice on the part of the parents. Bird’s-nest custody describes an arrangement in which the children stay in the original family home, and the parents are the ones who move back and forth, like a pair of birds taking care of nestlings. FOr this to work, both parents most have a second place to stay, during the periods when they are not living in the family home with the children.
When a divorce is amicable, the parents can both share a single second home, since they would never be staying there at the same time. If they were, the children would also have to be present. For this to work, the divorced parents must be able to cooperate on all issues involving the second home, and they must be able to do this and not find themselves continually arguing about routine problems. Since this doesn’t happen in most divorces, setting up this custody arrangement would probably require each of them to have to have a separate second home. That means a lot of extra expense and inconvenience – so it is obvious why this arrangement is not often used.
Learn more about the best ways to succeed in your custody fight. Get your copies of two FREE reports about child custody by clicking: Free Child Custody Reports. Then, find more information at web-omnibus.com.
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