Child Custody and Visitation

Legal Custody

California law encourages Judges to award joint “legal custody” to parents. This means that both parents would have a right to make important decisions concerning their children such as: education, medical treatment, and religious training. In the rare event that a judge awarded sole legal custody to more than one parent, then only that parent would be allowed to make these important decisions on behalf of the children.

Physical Custody and Visitation

The court also has the power to award “physical custody” to one or both parents. Physical custody determines where a child actually lives, and is most commonly granted to a spouse with whom the children primarily reside.

The parent who does not have the primary physical custody is usually granted “secondary physical custody”, or visitation rights.

It is most common for the non-custodial parent to have specified periods of time consisting of, for instance, alternating weekends, one evening per week and one-half of vacation periods.

In some cases, the parents agree to “reasonable” visitation, which means that the parents will agree on the times when the non-custodial parent will have the children.