You have kids, and you don’t live with their other parent for whatever reason. You might be separated or divorced or never married.
The following are the kinds of custody you have can have of children in Massachusetts:
Joint Custody/Shared Parenting/Co-Parenting
The courts in Massachusetts generally are in love with the concept of ‘co-parenting’ –it’s all the rage, and it actually makes sense if both parties are willing and able and live near enough to each other for this to work.
If you have a ‘co-parenting’ plan you have “joint physical and joint legal custody” of your kids.
Physical Custody – this is where the child resides the majority of the time, if it’s half and half, then both parties may have it.
Legal Custody – this is where a party has legal rights to the child, which includes the right have access to all of the child’s medical and school records. This also means that you input on all of the major decisions of a child’s life, such as where he or she attends school, camp, medical decisions, religion and anything else that might arise. The child does not have to reside with you to have these rights. If you and another party have this together it’s called joint legal custody.
Sole Custody – it means you are the only one with legal and physical custody of the child. This does not mean that the other party never sees the child (although it might), it could mean that the other party has visitation with the child (supervised or unsupervised).
