In Pennsylvania, there are two kinds of custody: (1) Legal Custody and  (2) Physical Custody. Legal custody is the right to make important life decisions in regard to minor children, such as major medical decisions, major educational decision, major religious decisions, where a child lives, etc. There are two types of legal custody, the first being shared and/or joint legal custody where neither parent can make major life decisions in regard to minor children without the consent of the other parent and/or Order of Court. The second type of legal custody is primary legal custody where one parent has the authority over the other to make major life decisions for minor children.

Physical Custody is the actual physical possession of minor children. There are multiple types of physical custody. Shared and/or joint physical custody is where both parents have an equal amount of time, measured in overnights, with the applicable minor children. For example, parents would have shared/joint physical custody where they both have an equal amount of overnights over the course of a month. The second type of physical custody is where one parent has primary or full physical custody and the other has partial physical custody or visitation rights. In such a scenario, the parent having primary/full custody has on average at least four overnights per week. A generic example of a primary custody/partial custody situation is where one parent has custody all the time but for every other weekend and a few days during the week for a few hours each day. The last type of physical custody is where one parent has sole physical custody, meaning the other parent has no contact with the minor children. Such a situation is very rare and only used in extreme circumstances.

When proceeding to court over custody issues, the determining standard is "What is in the best interests of the minor children?". Any and all relevant factors are considered in what is in the "best interests" of minor children. Factors that are routinely significant in custody cases include the character of each parent, stability of the minor children, the neighborhood of where each parent lives, keeping the children around family and friends they are accustomed, the work schedule of each parent and whether the children will have to spend a significant amount of time with a third party babysitter, drug/alcohol use of a parent and where the children want to live. All factors are considered and the weight given to each varies case by case depending on the age of the children and other surrounding circumstances of each situation.

Most jurisdictions in Pennsylvania require parties proceeding through a custody dispute to engage in some type of court directed parenting seminar and/or mediation in an attempt to resolve issues without the necessity of proceeding to a trial/hearing. Such is done in an attempt to avoid families going through the emotional trauma of a trial/hearing, which can often lead to exorbitant attorney fees and irreparable harm to the parent/child relationship.

For an exclusive explanation of your custody rights and the procedures of proceeding to court in your jurisdiction, please contact our office for a free initial consultation.

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