An award of joint legal custody should serve to reassure a noncustodial parent that he or she will remain as an important presence in the child's life. Many states presume that joint legal custody is in the child's best interest. In those states, the court must award joint legal or make a specific finding that joint legal custody would be detrimental to the child. A denial of joint legal custody might be based on a finding that spousal or child abuse has occurred or on a finding that the parties have such extreme communication problems that they can not work together for the benefit of their children. Joint legal custody does not mean that a child will share his or her time equally between the parents.
Physical custody is exactly what it sounds like.
A child resides with his or her physical custodian. In an uncontested situation, the court will usually approve shared physical custody arrangements which divide the child's time with the parents roughly equally. It is unusual for a court to award joint physical custody in a contested situation. Every state has child support guidelines which determine the amount of child support to be paid. For more information, please go to the Child Support Resources section.