When Arizona parents go through divorces, there is often a lot of focus on where their children will live. Sole physical custody of a child will place that youth in the exclusive care of one parent while joint physical custody will allow the child to move between his parents’ homes on a regular and established schedule. Having a physical presence in a child’s life after a divorce is often seen as the most important part of maintaining a strong parent-child relationship. But, there is another very important element of child custody that parents should recognize as they work to end their marriages.
Legal custody involves the power of a parent to make decisions about their child’s life. These decisions can include where the child is educated, if the child is raised within a religion or with a system of faith, and what types of medical treatments the child may receive. Without the right to legal custody over one’s child, a parent may be left in the dark with regard to interjecting his opinions about these important issues.
John Bednarz, Attorney at Law, helps his clients pursue not only physical time with their kids, but also the legal power to help form their kids’ lives. Legal custody and physical custody are both important rights that parents do not have to give up when they end their marriages.
These types of custody are not beholden to each other. A parent may exercise legal custody over a child, even if he does not have physical custodial responsibility for the child.
A child’s best interests are served in a number of ways, including how his parents choose to raise him after a divorce. When a parent has legal custody of his child, he can be a part of those important decisions and the formation of the child’s future. To learn more about attorney John Bednarz, legal custody and his general family law legal practice, please visit his firm’s website on child custody.