There are two types of custody that parents need to know about: legal and physical custody. Legal custody deals with who makes the major decisions in a child’s life: school, medical decisions, etc. – any decision having to do with the health, education and general welfare of the child.
Physical custody refers to where a child will live after the parents separate or divorce. If a child lives exclusively or primarily with one parent, that parent is usually referred to as the custodial parent, or the parent with primary physical custody. In that case, the other parent is the non-custodial parent, and would generally have a right to visitation with the child.
The other concept in custody is joint vs. sole custody. In joint custody, parents share custody. Sole custody, not surprisingly, is when only one parent has custody (physical, legal, or both.) Most often, parents share joint legal custody. While joint legal custody is often in the best interests of the child, it can be a challenge because it means that parents need to communicate and be able to reach agreement on major decisions. In a high conflict situation, this can be very difficult. There are many different arrangements regarding physical custody. Some parents have joint physical custody, others arrange physical custody so one parent has primary physical custody and the other has secondary physical custody.
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