In California, there are two components to custody: legal custody and physical custody. Physical custody is the type of custody order that says who is going to have the child and at what time. Most of the time, the courts grant Joint. Physical Custody with primary either to mom or dad. Sometimes, though, sole physical custody will be granted to one party and visitation may or may not be granted to the other. There are many kinds of physical custody arrangements. For instance, in a 50/50 split, each parent may have the children on alternating weekends. An 80/20 split is more common with one parent having primary custody and the other parent seeing the kids one evening a week and having the kids every other weekend.

Legal custody is the ability to make decisions for the child. This includes everything from choosing the school they attend to the authority to cut their hair. Again, in most cases, joint legal custody is granted and both parents have the ability to make decisions. This means that if they disagree on issues like what religion the child will be raised in, they must go to court to settle it. In a limited number of cases, the Judge will decide that one party should have sole legal custody. Usually in these cases, there has been so much disharmony between the parents that it is in the children’s best interest to have just one parent making decisions for the children. In other cases, one parent has made bizarre decisions and the best route is for the other parent to have all the decision making power.

The next type of custody order involves visitation. Unsupervised visitation is the standard route and generally includes overnight visits if appropriate. In the vast majority of cases, unsupervised visitation is ordered. There has to be a specific reason for the courts to order anything other than unsupervised visitation. In cases where there are allegations or proof of abuse (sexual, physical, or emotional), supervised visitation may be ordered. Supervised visitation requires that a monitor be present during the entire visit. Sometimes a relative or friend of the non-custodial parent qualifies as a monitor.

Then there are cases where no visitation is allowed because the court determines that any contact with the party would be harmful to the child. The court assumes that a generous amount of time spent with both parents will minimize the impact of the effects of divorce on children. The various types of deviation from the general assumption allows for custody orders to take into account that this assumption is not always correct. Child custody and visitation decisions are never easy for a Judge to make. But, when a family is being torn apart, the court has to make the decisions it feels are in the best interests of the children.