When you divorce or separate from your co-parent, you need to decide on how you will raise your children. You may share responsibility to some degree, or one parent may assume primary parenting duties.
Understanding the types of custody in Albany is critical so you can evaluate which arrangement is best for your family. Contact a knowledgeable child custody attorney for help resolving custody issues.
The parent with physical custody provides a home for their child(ren). One parent might have sole physical custody, or the parents might have joint or shared custody. In joint custody arrangements, the child(ren) could spend up to half their time with each parent, or they may only see a parent every other weekend and perhaps once during the week.
People sometimes equate one parent having sole physical custody to the other parent being unfit. However, that is not the case. When one parent’s schedule, health, home environment, or other circumstances prevent them from being physically and emotionally present for the children on a day-to-day basis, the other parent often assumes sole physical custody.
When parents cannot agree, a judge must decide who will have physical custody, and they cannot Order joint custody under these circumstances. When parents cannot work together to develop a custody plan, a judge would find joint physical custody, which requires the parents to work together cooperatively, not in the child(ren)’s best interests. A skilled Albany attorney could help a parent negotiate an agreement with their co-parent so that this fundamental decision about types of custody is not left in the judge’s hands.
To have legal custody is to have decision-making authority on issues like education, healthcare, and religion. Even when parents do not share physical custody, they often share legal custody. When one parent has sole legal custody, the other parent has the right to information from the children’s school and healthcare providers unless a court directs otherwise.
When parents develop their own parenting plan, they can designate how shared legal custody will work. They might agree to consult with one another, find consensus, and designate a way to settle disagreements between them. Other couples might consult but give each parent veto power if there is a disagreement.
Some couples assign responsibility for decision-making based on the parents’ particular strengths. For example, when parents have a child with an IEP, it might make sense for a parent with a background in special education or with time during the day to meet with school personnel to handle educational decision-making. Similarly, when only one parent has strong religious convictions, that parent might have decision-making authority over the child(ren)’s religious education.
It is always beneficial for parents in Albany to decide different types of custody issues together and formalize them in a parenting plan they present to the court. A judge must review the plan to determine whether it is in the child(ren)’s best interests. An attorney could explain how judges evaluate the children’s best interests to help ensure the parent develops an acceptable plan.
When parents cannot agree, they must submit individual parenting plans to the court, and the judge will consider both plans. New York Domestic Relations Law § 70 provides judges with extensive discretion to make decisions regarding custody. The judge could choose the one that best supports the child(ren)’s best interests or impose a different plan.
Once the judge issues a plan in the form of an Order, the parents must comply with it unless the judge modifies the plan. Typically, judges will only consider modification when the parents can show a significant change in circumstances.
Living apart from your co-parent requires you to make some critical choices. How you will parent your shared children is the most important issue for you to decide.
Get help from a local attorney from our firm when choosing among the various types of custody in Albany. They can explain the implications of every choice and help you make the right decision for your family. Call today.
Colwell Law
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(518) 462-4242
200 Great Oaks Blvd