When I talk to clients, I hear many reasons that going through a divorce induces stress from financial concerns to emotional dilemmas. A divorce becomes especially complicated when decisions need to be made regarding custody and parenting time for the children involved. Parents should consider both legal and residential considerations when it comes to custody and parenting time with their children.
Legal and Residential Custody
Sole Legal Custody
- One parent has almost total control over decision-making for the children
- This is not a favored arrangement by the Court
- Sole custody is usually only applied to cases where the Court deems one parent absent or unfit
- Such cases may involve a history of child neglect, drug addiction, or substantiated DCPP matters
- The parent awarded sole legal custody is named the primary residential custodian for the children
Joint Legal Custody
- Both parents share in the decision-making when it comes to their children, especially when it comes to their education, religious upbringing, general welfare and medical issues
- This is a very common arrangement for divorced parents
- One parent serves as the parent of primary residence and the other parent serves as the parent of alternate residence
- The primary custodial parent is responsible for day to day decision-making when it comes to the children
- The parent of alternate residence is involved in all major decisions in the lives of the children and should be kept informed of day to day issues as appropriate
Shared Legal Custody
- Both parents share in the decisions regarding the children and spend approximately equal amounts of time with the children
- Parents must be able to get along for this custodial situation to work well
- Parents make the day to day decisions regarding their children’s lives together
- Both parents work together to split parenting time equally, often alternating having the children for a week at a time or splitting each week
