If you’re going through a divorce and you have children, the chances are good that they are your biggest concern throughout the proceedings. After all, you want to be a good parent, and you want what’s best for them. And you want them to be as large a part of your life as possible. You may even be concerned about whether you or your spouse will be getting custody of the children. It’s understandable to be worried.

There are a lot of factors that go into determining which spouse will wind up being the custodial parent of the children. But first, it’s important to understand the two types of custody, how they differ, and what your rights are.

When people talk about having custody of the kids, they’re usually talking about physical custody. That is, where do the kids live. But there’s actually another kind of custody, which is equally important – especially if you’re the parent who doesn’t have physical custody. The other kind of custody is legal custody, which describes the right of a parent to help make decisions involving the child’s well-being: where the child goes to school, the religion the child is raised in, medical treatment for the child, and so on. In almost all divorces, both parents are granted legal custody.

Deciding Physical Custody

There are a number of factors that a judge takes into consideration when he or she is determining which parent will get physical custody, including:

• How old the children are.
• The considerations of the parents, to a certain extent.

• The nature of the relationship between each parent and the children. If a child has a bad relationship with one of the parents, that parent is less likely to get custody.

• The health of the parents, both in terms of physical health and mental health.

• Which parent provided the bulk of care for the child up to the point of the divorce.

• The ability of each parent to provide a healthy, stable long-term home for the children.

• The ability of the children to adjust to a move, assuming the parent is moving.

• The opinion of the children, depending on how old the children are.

• Whether allegations of abuse have been levied against one or both of the parents.

These are just a few of the many different aspects by which the court determines physical custody. If you would like to know more about divorce law, visit westpalmbeach-divorcelawyer.com.

Joseph Devine

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