Two Heads Are Better Than One
Video Transcript: What is joint legal custody? Hi, I’m Ty Smith, Oklahoma City attorney with Wirth Law Office.
And joint legal custody essentially is anything… Joint legal custody as opposed to sole legal custody essentially is a type of custody in which a judge grants you and the other parent the same rights and responsibilities in making major life choices for children or for your children, the children you two both have joint legal custody of.
These decisions include matters of where they go to school, medical choices they make, important medical decisions, what religion, what religious practices the kids engage in. Those are just a couple examples, but these are things that both parents have to decide and they both have to agree on.
It’s always an option in custody cases unless it’s not in the best interest of the children to grant this. And this normally occurs when the parents have a contentious relationship, meaning they don’t get along super well, they fight a lot, and the more they talk and the more they have to interact, the more likelihood for sparks and problems. And judges don’t want kids to be in the middle of that stuff.
They don’t want to feel like they’re the reasons why their parents aren’t together, why their parents are always yelling at each other. So it’s not common in those cases. And it can be divided up a bit.
One parent can have sole physical custody, but joint legal custody. It’s not an all or nothing thing. As I’ve said multiple times, the big core aspect is what’s in the best interest of the child.
If you want to talk more about this, I’d be glad to speak to you about this. As I said before, my name is Ty Smith. I’m an Oklahoma child custody lawyer with Wirth Law Office. You can find me at theoklahomacityattorney.com, or you can call my office at (405) 888-5400 and I’d be glad to speak to you about this stuff.
