Depending upon the arrangements, physical custody may be sole or joint, but sole custody with the mother is more the norm. Sometimes physical custody is called primary physical custody.

Physical custody can be a particularly contentious issue; when a child lives with one parent, he or she obviously is not with the other. And no judge is a King Solomon who can cut the child in half to satisfy both parents.

In both physical and legal custody, judges are guided by the gold standard: the best interest of the child. Like a refrain in a Greek chorus, this phrase appears again and again in the literature of custody cases. The age of a child, each parent’s living arrangements, a parent’s willingness to support the other’s relationship with a child, a parent’s relationship with the children before the divorce, a child’s preference (in some jurisdictions) -- all are considered in determining the custody arrangements that are in his or her best interest.

In many, if not most jurisdictions, courts are guided by the maternal preference. Put in a simple way, this means that, all other things being equal, a mother will get physical custody of small children. In general, courts seek to minimize the disruption to he child. In practice, this means that the child very often will end up with the mother in the family home (and the father, who once lived there, will now become an occasional visitor).

See also Sole Custody; Coequal Custody; Nesting; Joint Legal Custody.

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Your Suggestion

1. Developing a Parenting Plan
   A good comprehensive parenting plan does not make physical custody into a weapon against the noncustodial parent because in a good plan the noncustodial parent is always be encouraged to visit his or her children.
   Contributed on 7/31/2007 by: DivorceDex.com Staff

   Category: Child Custody  (Applicable in All States)
2. Custody Does Not Translate to Ownership
   Physical custody does not mean that the custodial parent owns the child, nor is it a license to exclude the noncustodial parent from visiting.
   Contributed on 7/31/2007 by: DivorceDex.com Staff

   Category: Child Custody  (Applicable in All States)

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