When you’re no longer involved with the other parent of your child, one of the details that you need to work out is how much time each one of you will spend with the child throughout the year. Although you might feel that your child should stay with you all the time, this typically isn’t a good situation for any party, especially if the other parent is responsible and has done nothing to hurt anyone. Here are a few options that are available for sharing custody in New Jersey.
Legal custody
If you’re granted this type of custody, then it means that you’re able to make any of the legal decisions that involve your child including where they go to school, what medical care they receive and whether religion plays a factor in your child’s life. During the divorce process, your attorney may work with the other party so that joint legal custody can be negotiated, which would allow both parties to make decisions.
Physical custody
This is the type of custody that determines who the child will live with during the year. One of you might have sole custody, which means that the non-custodial parent is entitled to visitations on certain days. With joint physical custody, each parent has the child an equal amount of time throughout the year.
Visitation
Unsupervised visitation means that the non-custodial parent will spend time with the child at their own home when it’s the parent’s day to have the child in their care. Supervised visitation means that the non-custodial parent would have someone with them at all times while seeing the child.
After separating from your partner, your child’s best interest should be first and foremost. Before heading into negotiations, you should carefully explore the various visitation and custody options that are available.