Virginia Child Custody and Visitation Lawyers

Legal Custody

In Virginia, custody breaks down into both legal and physical custody, which incorporates visitation. Legal custody relates to who will be making important life decisions for your children moving forward, and it can be either sole (one parent takes on the responsibility) or joint (both of you share the responsibility). The kinds of questions involved include those related to:

• Your children’s ongoing education
• Your children’s medical needs and health care
• Your children’s extracurricular activities
• Your children’s religious instruction

Conversely, those decisions that relate to the mechanics of daily living are left to the parent who is with the children at the time.

Physical Custody and Visitation

Physical custody relates to the visitation schedule by which your children split their time between the two of you. Physical custody can also be either sole or joint, but the court needs a very compelling reason for shutting down a parent’s right to at least some form of visitation with his or her children.

Sometimes, one parent becomes the primary custodial parent with whom the children spend the majority of their time, and the other parent has a visitation schedule. When it comes to physical custody, however, you can also split your time equally (or nearly equally) according to whatever schedule you and the other parent are willing to accept.