Establishing Child Custody with a Family Attorney in Kennett Square, PA
When you are in the middle of a divorce, determining who has custody of the children can get complicated. If one of you has worked and one of you has been the primary caretaker of the children, deciding on where the children will be living is going to be hard. Both parents will want to see the children as much as possible, and especially if the children are young, they will need to have a well established routine that they can count on.
Shared Legal Custody and Shared Physical Custody
In this type of arrangement, both parents share responsibility for the children equally. Both parents make all decisions regarding medical, educational, or physical needs, and both parents spend equal time parenting the children. This is a custody arrangement that only works effectively if both parties are able to be civil towards each other. If both parents hate each other, they are not going to be reasonable when working out issues with the children.
Shared Legal Custody and Sole Physical Custody
In a shared legal custody and sole physical custody arrangement, both parents make all legal decisions regarding the care and welfare of the child, but one parent is the primary caretaker. The child lives with the sole custodian, with or without ample visitation with the other party. This type of agreement tends to work in families where one has always been the primary caretaker of the children, and the other has provided all of the financial support. One parent may have a job where they just don't have the flexibility to meet the kids off the bus, or to care for them on a daily basis. Sole physical custody awarded to one parent also means that the other parent will pay child support to help with the costs of raising the children.
Sole Legal and Sole Physical Custody
A Family attorney Kennett, PA may suggest sole legal and physical custody in the case of a family where one parent is barely available to care for the children. The parent may be incarcerated, or has ever really been involved in the lives of the children. Sole legal and physical custody gives all rights to the parent who has custody, and the other parent is not involved in any decision making.
The non custodial parent will be responsible for paying child support based on guidelines.