What is child custody? How is legal custody different from physical custody, visitation or timeshare?
Child custody, physical custody, visitation and timeshare have very different meanings. Child custody refers to a parent’s rights and responsibilities for making decisions regarding the health, education, and welfare of a child. Physical custody is whenever the child is actually spending time with a parent. Visitation is defined by a court order describing how and when a child will spend time with each parent. California recognizes this as a right of stepparents, grandparents, siblings, and former legal guardians to a limited extent. Timeshare is visitation calculated as a percentage of time a child spends with a parent over the course of a year; this is used for determining support and not in reference to visitation plans.