Harris County, GA Child custody terms

Harris County, GA Child custody terms

When it comes to child custody in Harris County, GA , there are a lot of terms that can get thrown around. Usually, it can be pretty easy to misinterpret what precisely these terms mean. On the one hand, a term like “custody” has a literal meaning. If you have custody of something, it means that you have physical possession of that thing. However, some parents would speak about their child as being a “possession” in the way that jewelry or a car might be a possession. Custody, as associated with child custody, is a legal term, that has very specific legal meanings and underpinnings that you have to be understand what a phrase like “full child custody” means.

In Harris County, GA there are two specific areas that child custody refers to. The first concept that child custody refers to is the area of legal obligations and rights. Typically unless there is a compelling reason for the judge to rule otherwise, parents will share joint legal custody of their children in a divorce. Both parents have the right and responsibility to take decisions for the child in vital fields such as education, instruction in religion, and health care. If parents have shared or joint legal custody, both parents will have the total authority to act on the child’s behalf in these areas. When only one parent has complete legal custody, then only that parent has the right to make these decisions. However, it is only in rare cases, like if one parent has been convicted of child abuse or endangerment, that there will be sole legal custody.

The second concept that child custody refers to is physical custody. Having full physical custody of a child indicates that the child stays with you for vast majority of the time. However it does not indicate that the non-custodial parent cannot see the child, or that the child cannot live with the non-custodial parent. It simply means that the child stays with you primarily. The non-custodial parent shall still typically retain joint legal custody even if you have full child custody in the physical area. Besides, the non-custodial parent may still also have specific visitation rights that you must, by law, comply with even if you have full physical child custody.