What Does Custodial Parent Mean?
A custodial parent is a parent (mother or father) who has legal responsibilities for the child. There are two types of custody: physical and legal.
In terms of physical custody, and time-share, a custodial parent will have significant time with the child. When parents have joint physical custody, both parents are custodial parents during their timeshare.
A custodial parent is responsible for the child’s care during their custodial time. For legal custody, a custodial parent is responsible for the decisions related to the child’s education, health, and welfare. This also can be joined by, meaning both parents must agree for a decision to be made.
Conversely, a non-custodial parent has a child with limited legal and financial obligations. Non-custodial parents do not have primary physical custody, but they have visitation rights.
If parents have joint custody, they both have significant physical custody time with the child. In that situation, both parents are considered the custodial parent during their timeshare.
Custodial parents are typically responsible for a child’s physical needs during the parent’s custodial time.
Understanding Physical and Legal Custody for Custodial & Non-Custodial Parents
The parents have two types of child custody when it comes to minor children after divorce:
- • Legal custody
- • Physical custody
Each custody type discussed above is sub-categorized into joint and sole custody.
Physical Custody for Custodial & Non-Custodial Parents
A custodial parent has physical custody of a child after divorce. I like to think of physical custody as the W’s.
- • Who is your child with?
- • Where is your child?
- • What is your child doing?
- • When is he going?
You may have joint physical custody or sole physical custody.
Joint physical custody
With joint physical custody, the child has significant time with both parents. There is no requirement that joint physical custody equal 50/50 timeshare. It could even be 30% to one parent and still be considered joint time. It is also known as shared physical custody or shared parenting time.
If the parents no longer live together, then the child can move from one parent’s home to the others for agreed upon periods of time. Another option is that the child stays in one home and the parents move in and out of the home, called nesting.
Sole physical custody
Sole physical custody is one in which the child spends the majority of time with the custodial parent. The non-custodial parent may have visitation rights such as Wednesday evenings and a weekend every month.
The non-custodial parent does not have enough time with the child to be assigned the responsibilities for physical custody.
For instance, the parent with sole physical custody does not have to get permission from the noncustodial parent if the custodial parent and child relocate.
Legal custody for Custodial & Non-Custodial Parents
A parent with legal custody has the right to make major decisions, from schooling and medical health care to upbringing. All these decisions are significant enough to influence a child’s life. Hence, legal custody is about decisions.
- • What school will our child attend?
- • What medical treatment for our child?
- • What extracurriculars for our child?
- • Can our child apply for a passport, driver’s permit or driver’s license?
You can have joint or sole legal custody. The following are types of legal custody:
Joint legal custody
In the joint parenting plan arrangement, both parents share decision-making authority for the child after the dissolution of the marriage.
Legal authority does not matter if they live in the same house to make important decisions for and about the child regarding religious upbringing, education, and healthcare needs.
The parents must both agree prior to a decision being made. If they do not agree, they will need a court order to move forward with a decision.
In such a situation, consider options that give you the best chance for success. Will the other parent be willing to mediate? Do you need to file a Request for Order? Is it an emergency?
At Families First Mediation, we offer very detailed and creative solutions for legal custody disputes. Please book a free consultation so we can see how best we can assist you.
Sole legal custody
In sole legal custody, one parent has all the legal decision-making authority regarding the child. Regardless of the non-custodial parent’s visitation rights, the custodial parent has the final say and makes major decisions.
Often, parents have both joint legal and joint physical custody. They have approximately equal timeshare and both must agree prior to making important decisions in the child’s life.
A custodial parent can have only (sole) physical custody while sharing legal custody with the child’s other parent.
Rights and Responsibilities of Custodial Parents
The custodial parents have all the natural duties and rights that parents have in marriage. If the custodial parents have legal and physical custody, they have a major say in making decisions for the child.
The rights of custodial parents span from maintaining the child’s health and fulfilling basic needs (food, clothing, shelter) to managing schooling and academic needs. The following are the rights and obligations of a custodial parent:
- • Enrolling a child in school and taking care of their school attendance
- • Ensuring other necessities of the child, such as bathing, feeding, and taking care of discipline
- • Helping child with school work and managing tutor if needed
- • Ensuring that child’s medical and healthcare needs are being fulfilled
- • Communicating with non-custodial parent regarding the child
- • Facilitating visits between the child and the non-custodial parent
- • Informing the non-custodial parent if you plan to relocate as this decision can affect the child’s education, healthcare and visitation of non-custodial parents
- • Enrolling the child in extra-curricular activities and providing transportation to and from extra-curricular activities
What Is a Non-Custodial Parent?
A non-custodial parent has the child for visitation periods on weekends or other arrangements. They usually spend far less time living with the child on a daily basis than the custodial parent.
However, visitation rights or parenting time arrangements allow non-custodial parents to spend time with the child frequently or regularly according to the specific custody agreement. This ensures that the child maintains a healthy relationship with both parents.
Parents can make huge mistakes when they are negotiating on child custody matters. If you want to avoid the mistakes, read our article: What not to say in child custody disputes.
You can reach an agreement with the other parent on your own, and file it with the court. You can also use a professional, such as a mediator, to reach a detailed custodial plan.
If you want to mediate your child custody matter, schedule your free consultation with Families First Mediation. We provide highly specialized and creative parenting plans tailored to our parent’s needs.