legal custody
Court-granted child responsibility
Legal custody is the right and responsibility to make major decisions about a child's life, including education, healthcare, and religious upbringing.
It is distinct from physical custody, which determines where the child lives.
Courts may award sole legal custody to one parent or joint legal custody to both, requiring them to collaborate on important choices.
The divorce agreement granted her legal custody, though they share physical custody.
- guardianshipLegal care of another
- foster careSupervised substitute parenting
- noncustodial parentParent lacking residential custody
- parental rightsLegal power over children
- child supportMandated parental financial contribution
family law · parenting plans · custodial parent · primary caregiver · court order · adoption · custodianship · shared parenting · healthcare decisions · divorce · decree · physical · sole · minor · rights · father · supervised · judge
- custodycustodial parent, noncustodial parent, visitation rights, non-custodial parent, supervised visitation
- family lawchild support, alimony, family court, divorce petitions, divorce law
- custody courtparenting plan, visitation, parenting time, supervised visitation, child support
- parental rightsparental rights, parental authority, parental responsibility, parental responsibilities, parental consent
- ICWAtribal courts, tribal membership, tribal nations, native children, indigenous children
- familymother, father, parents, siblings, parent