Same Sex Child Custody Attorney in Ventura

California courts prefer to give child custody to both parents, whenever possible. Because of this, most parents end a divorce or break-up with “joint custody” of their shared children. “Child custody” usually has two parts: legal custody and physical custody. Legal custody is the legal power to make decisions in your children’s lives. This usually covers big life decisions in the areas of education, religion, healthcare, and other similar areas. Both parents with legal custody are to be involved in this decision. There is no way that one parent would have more legal custody than another, and both parents should get equal abilities to make these decisions. Physical custody refers to when you have your children living with you in the same house. When couples begin to live separately, their children may:

• Split their time equally among both parents;
• Live primarily with one parent, but stay with the other some portion of the year; or
• Live only with one parent, and participate in supervised visitation with the other parent.

If one parent has physical custody for more of the year, they are said to have “primary” physical custody. The parent who currently has physical custody (and sometimes the parent with primary physical custody) is known as “the custodial parent.” The other parent is known as the “noncustodial parent,” but that does not imply that they do not have some share of physical custody.

Courts decide which parent gets child custody by looking at several factors. There is no automatic presumption that the child should be with its mother – which would be especially unhelpful in cases where the child has 2 mothers. Instead, courts look to which parent has the time and ability to raise safe, healthy children. Courts prefer to give both parents custody if they both want custody, but may need to make hard decisions about who gets primary custody.