What Is the Difference Between Joint and Sole Legal Custody?

Because lawyers enjoy making things difficult, there are two type of child custody.

Physical Custody vs. Legal Custody

The first type is physical custody. Physical custody is where your kids stay, specifically, where they spend their overnights.

For example, if you share 50/50 physical custody, that means one person has 183 overnights per year, and the other person has 182 overnights per year. (You don’t split an overnight, so someone has to have one more.)

The second type is legal custody. Legal custody is who gets to make big decisions for your kids. By big decisions I mean decisions about religion, medical care, extracurricular activities, and some financial matters. Essentially, legal custody covers the really important things in your children’s lives.

Two Types of Legal Custody

And to make things even more complicated (remember, we’re lawyers, we like complicated), there are two different types of legal custody.

The first type is sole legal custody.

The second type is joint legal custody.

The difference between the two come down to a couple rules:

If one parent has sole legal custody, he or she can make a decision for the kids without discussing it with the other parent.

If parents share joint legal custody, they have to work together and talk about major decisions and come to an agreement.

So, sole legal custody means one parent has all the control and authority and doesn’t even need to communicate with the other parent, and joint legal custody means parents have to work together for the good of their children.

Hopefully, you can see why Utah divorce courts prefer joint legal custody. They want parents working together to make decisions for their kids. And, to be honest, parents (even divorced parents) who work together tend to make better decisions than parents who act alone without discussion.

Now, there are times when joint legal custody doesn’t make sense. For example, if one parent is addicted to drugs or alcohol, there’s not much chance that parent is capable of making good decisions for his or her kids, so the other parent will probably get to do that alone.

For the most part, though, parents work together and share joint legal custody.

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I would hands down suggest Brown Family Law. Nathaniel helped me with my divorce, and he was very knowlegeable and knows his stuff. He helped me file a motion, get somethings changed in the original decree, helped me understand the terms they use, helped me understand how child support is calculated along is all the financial aspects associated with divorce case. He also is very responsive to phone calls and emails which was very helpful whenever I had small questions. Thank you Nathaniel!

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I can’t say enough good things about Brown Family Law, but more specifically, my lawyer David Handy and his paralegal Dani. They are kind and honest and always available to me when I’ve needed them! This is such an exhausting time and they alleviated all of my stress by taking control. I could trust the process knowing I was in great hands!!! The entire law firm works as a team to take care of you! I can’t recommend them enough! Thank you!!!

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They handled my case with the highest degree of professionalism and integrity and made every effort to be efficient and transparent with me throughout the whole process. I was told that they were the best as far as family law is concerned and I believe that praise was fully justified.

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Overall from start to finish the best experience to have dealing with a time that is difficult.Andrew Christensen is very professional and out going to make this situation the best it could be and worked hard to make sure the divorce was fair for me.Over all, this firm really cares and treats you as a family or friend and just not a client, down to Marco Brown taking time to see how I was doing and offer to help in any way possible during my divorce while I was there for my first initial meeting.I would highly recommend anyone that has to go through a divorce to really reach out to the Brown Family Law firm and see for your self the experience I was able to receive from a top notch law firm.

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What Is the Difference Between Joint and Sole Legal Custody?

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