During a divorce where children are involved, the court of jurisdiction for the divorce
proceedings also presides over the agreements for child custody.  The specific state laws will determine what the courts decide under these agreements.  Typically, if the spouses had children together when married, they will have some type of joint custody and the rights of the parent may be equal.

The court will decide on which home the child will live in by trying to determine what is in “the best interests of the child.” This requires a number of factors including:

• the child’s wishes
• the parent’s wishes
• other family members that may impact the child substantially
• where the child will live, the schools and community
• the mental and physical state of health of the parents involved

The court has the choice of deciding from several types of custody.  They will decide on this from a number of factors.

• Temporary Custody – refers to the granting of custody during a divorce or separation proceeding
• Exclusive Custody – gives one parent all the custodial rights for making decisions on raising the child
• Joint Custody – grants each parent equal rights in raising the child

One of the parent’s can sue for exclusive child custody but would have to show that joint custody was not in the child’s best interests.  The court could also determine that a third party be granted custody if both parents did not seem fit to raise the child.  In most cases, this is a close relative such as a grandparent.

If there are multiple children from the marriage, the court could decide to split custody or  separate the children depending on what was in the best interests of each child.  Usually, this would mean not to separate the children.

Should a court give exclusive custody to one parent, the other parent will usually be given visitation rights to see the child.  It usually requires extraordinary circumstances for a court to decide that the non-custodial parent would not be given any visitation rights. If a child custody agreement does not mention visitation rights it usually implied that the parent has rights to visitation. The court can decide that it is not in the child’s best interests to give one parent visitation rights.

Almost all courts will use “the best interests of the child” as the main priority when determining child custody issues.  Courts will mostly focus on figuring out which parental custody situation will give the child the most stable environment to grow up in. For children who are younger, this usually means the parent most able to be a caregiver. For older children, the usually means the parent that is most able to provide the community, educational and relationships to foster growth in a young adult.