Paternal Child Custody Attorney in Santa Barbara

Fathers and mothers have equal access to child custody rights under the law in California. The court often makes decisions about which parent should have custody of the children, but the law states that this decision should not be based on the parent’s gender or sex. Instead, these decisions are to be made based on the child’s best interests. Typically, child custody decisions involve two types of child custody: legal custody and physical custody. Courts generally give both parents legal custody, which is the right to make decisions in your child’s life. Even if the child does not live with you, legal custody gives you the right to help decide what school they go to, what religion they can practice, what healthcare options they are permitted to undergo, and other issues that broadly affect their lives.

Physical custody, on the other hand, is the right to have your child live with you. If you are denied physical custody, you may be able to seek visitation to spend more time with your children. Courts tend to award joint custody in cases where both parents are willing and able to be parents. However, the court is not always able to give parents a 50/50 parenting time split. If one parent works throughout most of the day and the other parent stays at home, the court might prefer to give primary custody to the stay-at-home parent since the working parent will be unable to be home for the kids. However, if both parents work or your child care can be supplemented with care from your partner, your parents, or other family members or nannies, then the court may be able to award you a greater custody split – perhaps giving you more parenting time than the children’s mother.