When there is a fight in family law court for custody there are several things you will need to know about custody laws in California. There are two forms of child custody in California: legal custody and physical custody .

One battle between parents is often over legal custody. An award of legal custody gives a parent the right to make decisions, and legal custody requires the parents to meet and confer before making any major decisions. It also gives each parent access to information about the children.

Whether your family law case is a divorce or paternity matter, getting sole legal custody of your children is difficult. In most cases, the court will award parental rights to both parents in the form of joint legal custody as early as at the first court hearing.

Most custody battles are over physical custody. Physical custody determines where the child will live. For joint physical custody, the child’s time is split nearly equally between each parent's home. A joint physical custody schedule does not have to be structured in any specific way. Joint custody could be a week-on, week-off schedule; or even an every-other-day schedule. However it is fashioned, a joint physical custody arrangement can be a big help to both parents, but it can also make it more difficult for the parties to move away from each other in the future. If both of you are living in or around the Temecula area and if one parent wants to move outside of the Temecula Valley, this will often turn into a new custody battle requiring more family court hearings.

A primary physical custody situation (sole physical custody) is where the child lives with one parent the bulk of the time and visits with the other parent on specific days. Disputes involving time with their children is generally what is meant by the term "custody battle". The most common arrangement is where the child sees the visiting parent on alternating weekends and for an evening or two during the week. Although family law courts do not favor a mother over a father, most custodial parents in California are women.

If you have any questions concerning California child custody laws, or would like any info concerning child custody or visitation cases and you live in the Temecula, Murrieta or Hemet area, you are welcome to call us to obtain free advice from one of our Temecula family law lawyers.