Talking About Family Attorney Services

Understanding The Different Types Of Child Custody Agreements

1 April 2021

Norman Kelly

Typically, estranged partners each get a lawyer to represent them in court when going through a divorce. Child custody is usually the main point of focus here, where one or both parents want to receive custody of their offspring. This often ends in an arrangement recognized by the court as a fair compromise for both parents on the child's behalf. 

Sometimes things can get messy, and that's when a child custody lawyer might come in handy. Your child custody attorney might advise that you keep an open mind and try not to deny your child the presence of either parent in their lives. To this end, take a look at the main custody arrangements that the courts legally accept under family law.

Full or Sole Custody

Traditionally, this was often the norm when it came to custody issues after a divorce. In this case, only one parent is granted full responsibility for the child and has the last word when it comes to their child. The other parent only gets visitation rights, where they can only spend time with the child on court-appointed dates. 

It's often chosen when it's evident that one parent isn't capable of caring for the child based on who they're or how they live. Here, the custodial parent is responsible for everything concerning their child and could choose to have supervised visitation for the other parent. Additionally, the custodial parent is free to choose the child's surname, religion, and anything health-related. 

Joint Custody 

In this arrangement, both parents are well within their legal rights to take up their child's responsibility. The parents have joint physical and legal custody of their children. The good thing about joint custody is that no parent feels overwhelmed when it comes to their child. 

Here, whatever parent has physical custody at any particular time has to make sure the child is in good care and nothing about their lives changes for the worst. Any health emergencies eventually fall on the physical custodian. 

This arrangement can either be from a mutual agreement by both parents or a court directive. It works to ensure a fruitful relationship when it comes to co-parenting. The main idea is to nurture the child's relationship with both their parents since the two parents don't have that anymore. 

Bird's Nest Custody

This type of child custody has the children living in a specific location where both parents drop in at regular intervals as per the agreed schedule. It could be an arrangement where one of the parents can stay with the kids from Sunday morning to Wednesday evening while the other parent takes over from Wednesday to Sunday. 

This will ultimately depend on what the two parents agree on in the presence of their child custody attorney. The strategy works best to make the transition easier for the kids, but it can be pretty expensive to run three separate residences. 

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