Legal custody is the power the parent or parents of a child have to make major decisions for the child. 

Areas of major decisions include healthcare, religious lifestyle, education, and other highly meaningful aspects of life. 

Virginia courts can grant sole legal custody to one parent or joint legal custody to both parents. 

It is very rare for Virginia courts to grant sole legal unless there are some extreme circumstances.  

Sole legal custody is rarely granted outside of extreme cases because Virginia courts see having both parents involved in the life of the child as being in the best interest of the child. 

However, cases of abuse are good examples of when Virginia courts will grant sole custody to the parent who is not abusive. 

If you have questions about sole legal custody in Virginia, call the Virginia child custody lawyer at American Lawyers Group.

Joint legal custody is when both of the child’s parents are involved in the major decisions in the upbringing of the child. 

Joint legal custody is also distinct from physical custody. 

A child may live with the mother most of the time, but the mother and father can still have a joint legal custody arrangement that gives both parents substantial influence over the major decisions made regarding the child. 

If you have questions about joint legal custody, call the Virginia child custody lawyer at American Lawyers Group.

Virginia has sole physical custody, but judges prefer to grant joint physical custody. 

Sole custody is when one parent is the primary caregiver and the child lives with that parent.  However, sole physical custody does not prevent the other parent from seeing the child. 

There can still be visitation arrangements in scenarios where one parent has primary physical custody. 

Based on the circumstances, the visitation schedule may include supervised visits, a regular schedule the parents agreed on, and reasonable visitation schedules that are left vague and allow the parents to fill in the gaps as needed. 

If you have questions about sole or primary physical custody, call the Virginia child custody lawyer at American Lawyers Group.

Joint physical custody is where the child spends some time with one parent and the rest of the time with the other parent. 

This system may include a child spending one week with the mother and the next with the father. 

Additionally, schedules can be established where the child lives with one parent during the school year and the other parent during holidays or in the Summertime. 

Joint physical custody is granted less frequently than joint legal custody. 

Normally, judges like to order primary physical custody for one parent with joint legal custody and visitation for the other parent. 

If you have questions about joint physical custody, call our Virginia child custody lawyer at American Lawyers Group.