Legal custody to a parent or both parents awards the right to
make legal decisions for the child regarding education, health care, religion, and his or her general welfare.
Legal decision making refers to the rights of a parent to make all
nonemergency legal decisions for a child, such as where the child will attend school, the religion that the child will be raised, and personal activities that the child will engage in.
Normally, a plan stands upon the legs of physical custody, which defines and declares the child's residency, and legal custody, which is the right to make
legal decisions for the child regarding education, health care, religion, and his or her general welfare.
The most common type of custody awarded to grandparents in Florida is informal / physical custody, whereby the child lives with the grandparents, but the grandparents can't
make legal decisions for the child — and the parents can take the child back at any time.
A possessory conservatorship gives a parent the right to access and visit the child but not necessarily the authority to make
legal decisions for the child.
Legal custody allows a parent to make
all legal decisions for the child.
In joint custody, both parents make
legal decisions for the child.
Often, both parents continue to share responsibility for the children's welfare and responsibility for making
all legal decisions for the children through joint custody.
LEGAL CUSTODY — The authority that one parent or both parents share to make
legal decisions for the child.
If a California court orders joint legal custody and joint physical custody, both parents have a right to make
legal decisions for the child and to participate in the physical supervision and care of the child.
Do you both expect the children to live with you, and do you both expect to participate in medical and
legal decisions for your children?