The Different Types of Custody — Explained
You and your partner have separated and share a child. Now what? With talk of legal, primary, joint, and physical custody, it may feel as though the system is built against you. However, we are here to provide you with a quick and easy guide to understanding the different types of custody in Michigan and what they entail.
Legal Custody
When you hear “legal,” your mind may wander to courtrooms and gavels and judges in oversized robes. However, when it comes to your kid, legal custody, thankfully has nothing to do with bringing your kid in front of the law.
Legal custody over a child concerns decision-making about the major things in your child’s life. Some of these decisions are as follows:
Education
Religion
Health
Extracurricular activities
Physical Custody
A little more straightforward in its wording, physical custody relies primarily on parenting time schedules established by an order of the Court or an agreement between you and your ex-partner.
Where legal custody involves the decisions made about the child, physical custody handles where the child resides. Like legal custody, physical custody can be either primary or joint with your ex. But what does that mean?
Primary Custody
Primary custody (sometimes called “sole” custody) means that you or your ex-partner have legal or physical custody over the child.
When you or your ex-partner has sole legal custody, you make the decisions about the child’s life. Similarly, when you or your ex-partner has primary physical custody, the child resides with you. Typically, primary physical custody entails “alternating weekends.”
However, having primary custody does not mean the other partner is completely uninvolved, which is why we hesitate to refer to it as “sole” custody. Sometimes, in a custody agreement, one partner can have sole legal custody and joint physical custody simultaneously. So, even though one party has primary custody, it does not mean the other party has no involvement with the child.
Joint Custody
Joint custody means what it sounds like: you and your ex-partner share legal and/or physical custody.
Joint custody is also sometimes referred to as “equal parenting time” or “almost equal parenting time.” It is important to note that legal and physical custody are not conjunctive, meaning that they do not have to go together.
As stated before, one party (you or your ex-partner) may have primary physical custody while you share joint legal custody or vice versa.
If you or your ex-partner are looking for further clarifications through these times. Please do not hesitate to contact our office at +1(269)-382-2580 or through our website, www.markoulaw.com. We would be happy to assist you and provide you with a seamless transition into your new life.
