Child Custody Lawyers

Legal Child Custody in Nevada

When a divorce or separation occurs, parents find themselves needing to make many decisions regarding their children, including where the children will live, where they will go to school, how often the other parent gets to see their children, what religion the child will practice, how much money must be paid for the support of the children, and more.

Legal custody is the right to know about what is going on in a child’s life.

Legal custody also encompasses the right to assist in making major decisions in the child’s life, such as those above.

In the state of Nevada, most parents will be awarded joint legal custody unless there are issues involving abuse, drugs, criminal activity, or mental illness.

Where extenuating circumstances are involved, it may be possible for the other parent to obtain an award of sole legal custody.

Physical Child Custody in Nevada

Physical custody involves where a child will live. In Nevada, the two kinds of physical custody:

1. Joint Physical Custody

In a classic joint physical custody situation, both parents have the child or children with them for an approximately equal amount of time. Classic examples of joint physical custody timeshares include a week on and then a week off, 3.5 days on and then 3.5 days off, or Monday and Tuesday for one parent, Wednesday and Thursday for the other parent, and alternating three-day weekends for each parent.

The courts will permit parties to enter into almost any joint physical scenario they wish, so long as the children are not negatively impacted by the custodial timeshare. Some Nevada courts have enforced mornings for one parent and evenings for the other parent based on variable shifts they may work.

The state also permits parents to split custody so one parent has the children for four days and the other parent has them for three, even though the timeshare is not equally split.

2. Primary Physical Custody

This situation involves one parent having custody of their child for more than 60% of the time, with the other parent having physical custody for less than 40%.

The parent with more time has primary physical custody, while the other parent has visitation.

There are a lot of ramifications for parents when it comes to physical custody. Physical custody affects how often a parent sees the children, child support, the ability to change custody in the future, and the ability to move out of state. Many parents decide to take a “wait and see” approach, but child custody is too important to be left to chance.