All About Sole, Joint, and Legal Custody

It is important to hire a divorce lawyer before you go to court to fight for custody of your child. Family law and divorce lawyers know exactly what kind of evidence you need to obtain sole or joint custody of children. Here are a few things you should know about the different types of child custody. 

Explore the Various Forms of Child Custody & Family Law

Sole Custody: It is seldom that a family law judge will grant one parent sole custody of a child, but it does happen. Sole custody is only granted when there is evidence that one parent is unfit to have custody of a child. Some things that could cause a parent to not get partial custody include a history of violence, drug abuse, a history of parental alienation, a history of mental illness, or a history of emotional abuse. 

Joint Custody: The most common form of child custody that a judge will settle on is joint custody. Joint custody means that each parent will get their child part-time. Even if you are confident that you will be getting joint custody of your child, you should still hire a divorce or family law attorney. There are several ways that joint custody can be split, so if you want to have your child during the week when they have school, but no weekends, then you need to provide evidence as to why that request should be granted. The judge would need hard evidence that you have been and will continue to be the primary parent of school drop-offs and pick-ups due to your partner’s lack of contribution in that area. You will also need to make it clear to the judge that changing the current routine would be a hard adjustment for the child to make. After presenting everything, the family law judge will grant you those rights or decide to split those days between you and your former spouse. 

Legal Custody: If parents are granted joint custody of a child, then they both have the right to be a part of any religious, medical, and educational decisions for their child. This means that one parent is not legally allowed to make these life-altering decisions unless they speak with the individual they are co-parenting with beforehand. Any violation of legal custody rights should be brought to a family law attorney with evidence that a parent was left out of a life-altering decision.