Parents in Texas who are no longer married must put their children first. While going through custody issues, the court will decide on custody and visitation types. What types apply to parents will depend on their unique situation.
What are the types of child custody?
Physical custody relates to the parent with whom the child lives. However, there are two categories: joint physical custody and sole physical custody. Joint physical custody sees the child spending a good amount of time with both parents at their homes. With sole physical custody, one parent has the child living with them while the other parent gets visitation.
There is also sole legal custody and joint legal custody. Legal custody refers to one or both parents having the right to make decisions on the child’s behalf. These decisions include important matters like school, medical care and religion. Sole means only one parent gets to make such decisions while joint means both have equal authority to make major decisions about the child. The court decides on child custody based on what’s in the child’s best interests.
What are the types of visitation?
Depending on the circumstances, the court might require the non-custodial parent to have supervised, unsupervised or virtual visitation with the child. Supervised visitation occurs when the child might potentially be in danger if alone with the parent. For example, if the parent has a substance use disorder or has spent time in prison, the court often orders supervised visitation.
Unsupervised visitation means the parent gets to spend time with the child without someone else present to watch over them. Virtual visitation happens when the parent and child live far apart and cannot physically visit or if the visits are far and few between.
Most children benefit if both parents are involved in their lives. The court takes a wide variety of factors into consideration when deciding custody and visitation.