Child Custody

CHILD CUSTODY ATTORNEY IN Town and Country, ST LOUIS, MO

Child custody is defined in two different ways:

Legal Custody: Refers to the right and responsibility to make major decisions regarding the minor child's life, including medical, educational, and religious decisions.
Physical Custody Refers to the right to have physical possession of the child, which includes caretaker responsibilities such as providing them with food, clothing and shelter.

There are four primary terms used to describe physical custody: sole custody, shared custody, primary physical custody, and split custody.

Sole Child Custody is an alternative to joint custody where one parent is granted either all of the decision-making rights (sole legal custody) or all of the physical parenting time (sole physical custody) with the other parent being excluded completely.
Primary Physical Child Custody refers the home where the child resides for the greater amount of time and the home that is in the child's school district. It is the residential address of the child for educational, tax and mailing purposes.
Split Custody is an arrangement where the children are separated between the two parents. This means that some of the children reside with one parent while the other children reside the other parent.
Shared Custody or Joint Custody is an arrangement where the child is "shared" between the two parents