Is Sole Custody the Best Option for Your Family?
Have you ever been so frustrated with your ex that you considered
pursuing full custody? Before making that decision, you need to
carefully consider the monetary and mental costs of battling for
custody.
There are two types of sole custody. Sole legal custody involves one
parent having all decision-making authority for the child. Generally,
this is the type of custody that may be generically referred to as sole
custody. Sole physical custody means that the child will live with one
parent with the other parent usually receiving visitation.
Courts favor a form of custody known as joint legal custody. This means
that both parents are able to jointly make decisions on behalf of the
child. The other type of joint custody is joint physical custody which
involves the child living half of the time with one parent and half of
the time with the other parent. The main reason why courts usually award
joint legal custody is due to the presumption that both parents should
be involved in the child's life. Noncustodial parents who get to parent
their children tend to remain more involved that those that do not have
joint legal custody.
Before a court will grant sole custody, there needs to be evidence that
the other parent is unfit. Usually the noncustodial parent is granted
visitation, and there are requirements for the other parent to provide
information on the child's life such as education, medical and religious
concerns. Unless the other parent does not want to remain involved with
the child, it is quite hard to convince a court to not allow a parent to
see his or her child, even if there has been documented abuse to the
child. A parent who is found to be unfit may be granted supervised
visitation and given a court order to attend a treatment program with
the eventual goal of increasing visitation and parental participation if
the parent complies with the court's orders.