"Custody", "Parenting Time", and "Visitation": Clearing Up the Confusion.

Many clients come in and say they want "sole custody" of their children. When I question them further about what they want, it turns out they actually want something different but don't know what to call what they really want.

So, let's talk a little vocabulary.

"Physical custody" is the relative amount of time each parent has physical time with their child.

"Legal custody" refers to how major decisions regarding health, religion, education and extra-curricular activities are decided and what access parents have to information regarding these issues.

Physical custody can be "joint", which means that parenting time is shared by the parents in such a way as to assure the child of substantially equal time and contact with both parents. If one parent has "primary" physical custody, that that parent has more than half of parenting time.

"Visitation" is often referred to nowadays as "parenting time" because parents do not like to be told that they can merely "visit" their child. That said, the term "visitation" is ordinarily used to refer to the parenting time the non-primary physical custodian has with their child. When parties have joint physical custody, the term "visitation" is ordinarily not used and “parenting time” is used instead.

"Joint legal custody" means both parents have equal rights to make major decisions concerning the child, including the child's education, health care, extracurricular activities, and religious training and direct access to information from schools and physicians. However, one parent is usually designated as the parent to have the authority to make the final decision in the event that the parties cannot agree after a good faith attempt to resolve the issue. Sometimes, the parties divide final decision-making authority so that one has final decision-making authority over certain issues, such as health and religion and the other has final decision-making authority over education and extracurricular activities.

The term "sole custody" collectively refers to "sole legal" and "sole physical" custody and means that the parent has the authority to make major decisions concerning the child, including the child's education, health care, extracurricular activities, and religious training without having to consult with the other parent. The other parent would not have the right to access the child's medical or school records. The sole physical custodian also has most of the time with the child and the other parent has the right to visitation/parenting time.

Most of the time, it turns out that clients want primary (or joint) physical custody of their child along with joint legal custody and the authority to make the final decision on some, if not all, of the major decisions concerning their child if the parties cannot agree after a good faith discussion. Joint legal custody is very common, while “sole legal custody” is more rare.

Every custody situation is different. The best outcomes for families take the best interests of the child into consideration.

O.C.G.A. § 19-9-6

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