Unmarried Parents

• When a child's parents are unmarried and do not live together, many states will award custody to a mother, barring that the mom is fit and able to take care of the child. If agreements about custody and visitation cannot be made without strife and confusion, the parents may need to go to court to secure some kind of arrangement that parents can agree on.
  
  

Legal Custody

• Parents who do not live together must agree on who has legal rights to make decisions in regards to the child. Parents do not need to live together to have full legal custody, nor does the child have to live with one or the other parent full-time. In fact, legal custody is separate from physical custody. Legal custody refers to decisions about where the child will attend school, what religion she will practice (or not practice), medical treatment issues and permission to play sports. Courts commonly issue both parents legal custody and only strip one (or both) parent's rights in cases of child abuse, neglect or other serious criminal matter.
  
  

Physical Custody

• Physical custody refers to the home in which the child will live. One parent may be granted sole physical custody, but both parents may retain legal custody rights. Regardless of legal custody status, if one parent has physical custody, the other parent may or may not have visitation rights. If visitation rights are in place, the parent may have only a few hours a week to a day or more a month.
  
  

Joint Custody

• If both parents have equal physical and legal custody rights, this is referred to as joint custody. Both parents are allowed to make legal decisions for their child, and the child resides with both parents at some time or another. Many parents split weekdays with one parent and weekends with the other, or three days with one parent and four days with the other.
  
  

Visitation Rights

• If one parent is granted sole physical custody, the other parent has the right to see and visit the child, as long as no abuse or harm has occurred. Most custody cases or mediation cases involving child custody will address visitation rights. If the child custody order is not stated, the law implies that visitation is OK. If there is a contentious relationship between parents, an order may need to be created to address how often visits happen, if they will be supervised or unsupervised and where they will occur.