If you’ve recently gone through a divorce, you may be tempted to request sole custody of your children if you are the parent who spends the most time with them. You may also want custody if you feel that you are the more acceptable parent. However, there are several factors to consider when it comes to child custody. If you’re a Maryland resident, here are some important things to remember.
Legal and physical custody
If you are granted legal custody in child custody court, you are the parent who makes major decisions about the children’s lives. If you have sole legal custody, you will decide where your children will attend school, which churches or temples they will attend, and which extracurricular activities they will be involved in. You’ll also decide how your child receives medical care. If you share joint custody with your ex, you will both have a say in these decisions.
Physical custody refers to where your children live. If your children live with you and receive visits or spend the weekend with your ex, you have sole physical custody. If the children split their time between your home and your ex-spouse’s home, the two of you have joint physical custody.
Visitation options
If you have primary custody of the children but your ex still wants to be involved in the children’s lives, you can make a visitation arrangement in child custody court.
Most parents have unsupervised visitation, which means your ex can get the kids for the weekend and bring them back in time for them to prepare for school for the week. Supervised visitation requires that a social worker or responsible family member accompanies your ex while they visit with the children. If you live in another state or city with the children, you can schedule a time for virtual visitation so your ex can use video conferencing software to talk to the children in real-time.