Also known as: shared parenting times · shared custody · joint physical custody
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An arrangement in which two or more adults divide a child's residence and day-to-day care responsibilities according to a regular schedule. The division satisfies the elements of physical custody when each adult lives with the child during assigned periods and provides routine supervision, meals, and daily structure.
Stephen Shaw's daughter spends Sunday night through Friday afternoon at neighbor Selena Singh's city home because rural internet prevents online schooling at his house. Selena prepares meals, supervises homework, and enforces daily routines during those periods while the child returns to Stephen on weekends. The court recognizes that the regular division of residence and care creates shared parenting time between Stephen and Selena.
After their divorce, April and Roy agree their son will alternate full weeks between April's home and the nearby home of Roy's parents. The grandparents prepare meals, supervise homework, transport the child to school, and manage routine medical visits during their weeks while the parents retain authority over major decisions. The schedule produces shared parenting time because the child maintains a bedroom at each location and receives day-to-day care from both households on a consistent basis.
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Shared parenting time requires that each adult live with the child and exercise day-to-day care during assigned periods. Visitation, by contrast, is merely the right to spend time with a child who continues to live with someone else. The distinction turns on whether the adult provides the child's primary residence and routine supervision rather than occasional contact.
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Yes. The definition of physical custody focuses on where the child actually lives and who provides daily care, not on legal parentage. A nonparent such as a neighbor or grandparent can hold physical custody during scheduled periods when the child resides in that home and receives routine supervision there.
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No. The inquiry centers on the functional reality of the child's residence and daily care rather than on formal title or written agreements. Consistent overnight stays and routine caregiving during assigned periods can establish shared parenting time even when the arrangement remains informal.
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Legal custody concerns the right to make significant decisions about education, health care, and activities. It is distinct from physical custody and shared parenting time. Parents may retain sole legal custody while still sharing physical custody and day-to-day care responsibilities with another adult under a regular schedule.
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…error to the court’s rejection of the expert’s recommendation that absent the possibility of an “ideal” arrangement, that is, shared custody, primary custody be awarded to her. Appellant also contends the court erred in refusing to admit the expert’s report “as an exhibit and/or consider[ ][it] as evidence.” (Appellant’s Brief…