California’s Best Interest Policy:
The most important factor in any child custody agreement is the best interest of the child. This means the state has set up a standard that takes into account the child’s education, welfare, safety, health and preferences when assigning custody. California allows the use of “discretion” …show more content…
They usually split time 50-50, but that isn’t a requirement for joint physical custody. The law does state, though, that a child has to spend more than 35% of their time with a parent for them to have join custody. Usually, parents work out an arrangement they both like and as long as the child spends significant time with each parent, it is considered joint physical custody. Not only does joint custody give fairly equal time to each parent, it also allows each parent to have equal say when it comes to making decisions affecting their children. These types of decisions could include but are not limited to those regarding the child’s medical needs, overall health, education, extracurricular activities and any other decision that will affect the child’s life. The simplest way to explain what joint physical custody means is to consider it co-parenting. Although they aren’t, joint custody allows parents to function much the same way they did before they got divorced. Each parent is equally responsible and available to the child. This arrangement makes moving out-of-state problematic. It takes coordination and agreement between both parents in order for a move to occur.
Sole Physical and Legal Custody: California also refers to sole physical custody as primary physical custody. Sole legal and physical custody gives the control of the child’s school enrollment, housing arrangement, medical