Under California law, parents have two types of custody and multiple options for each type of custody. Parents who have the legal right to make decisions in their children’s lives are said to have legal custody. This gives them the right to make health care decisions, dictate their child’s religion, and make decisions about what school their child will attend. Both parents have full rights to make these decisions and must agree on many choices or figure out some compromise that allows both parents to exercise their parental rights, such as attending multiple types of religious services or agreeing on a school that satisfies both parents’ wants.
Parents who have their child living with them in their home have “physical custody.” Not only does this give you the right to be a parent on a day to day basis, it also gives you increased control over your children’s lives when you have them in your household.
Day to day decisions, such as what the child eats, whether they can spend time at a friend’s house, and what time they should go to bed are often dictated by the custodial parent.
These custody types can each be “sole” or “joint.” In cases of sole custody, only one parent has custody, and the other does not have the rights or access that that type of custody grants. For instance, a parent with sole physical custody is the only parent the children live with, and the children do not stay with the other parent. If a parent has sole legal custody, the other parent has no right to make decisions for the child – but they may still be obligated to pay child support when required.
Joint custody is the most common type of custody in California.
