Determining Custody
If the parties can not agree, the court looks to the best interest of the child to determine custody. What is in the best interest of the child, however, is often hotly debated.
In these cases, Georgia law provides a list of specific factors that a judge must consider when determining what will best promote the child's welfare and happiness.
We are Your Source for Child Custody
With a huge library of resources that covers every aspect of child custody from start to finish...
Download our Custody Guide Major Catagories of Child Custody Decisions
While most people usually refer to child custody generally as if it was only one thing, the law looks at child custody in a much more nuanced and detailed way. From a high-end point of view, the court divides custody into two independent items:
Physical Custody
How time is divided with a child
-
The general pattern for who has time with a child.
-
Summer Visitation
-
Holiday Visitation
Legal Custody
Who has final say-so regarding decision related to a child
-
Health Care
-
Education
-
Extracurricular Activities
-
Religion
Primary Custody
Primary Custody refers to who has the child the majority of the time. It can range for fifty-one percent to nearly one hundred percent of parenting time with a child.
Joint Custody
“Joint physical custody means that physical custody is shared by the parents in such a way as to assure the child of substantially equal time and contact with both...
Split Custody
Split custody is the situation where “there are two or more children of the same parents, where one parent is the custodial parent for at least one child of the parents and...
Sole Custody
Sole custody refers to a custody arrangement where one parent has been “awarded permanent custody of a child by a court order.” O.C.G.A. § 19-9-6(11). The term sole...
Parenting Plans
A parenting plan is a document that defines all child custody matters. Specifically, it is filed with the court and explains the parties’ agreement (or the court’s order) regarding visitation, legal decision making, transportation and many other topics related to the parties’ children. Because it is what guides the parties on all post-divorce related matters related to their children, we consider it to be the most important child custody document in Georgia...