When parents divorce, they are faced with creating a new family structure that involves deciding how much time each parent will have with their children and each parent’s role in the future decisions regarding the well-being of their children. This decision-making is referred to as “legal custody.” It is a concept that is separate and apart from a parent’s physical, day-to-day time with their children, which is referred to as “physical custody” or “residential custody.”
Legal custody comes in two forms: joint legal custody or sole legal custody. In the sole legal custody situation, one parent has the right to make all decisions concerning a child’s health, education and welfare and need not consult the other parent prior to making such decisions. As might be expected, sole legal custody is increasingly rare and not granted absent a parent’s gross misconduct or abandonment.
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