St. Mary’s County, MD: All Types of Child Custody Defined (Part Two)

In part one of this article, we offered some details on a couple of different types of child custody that might be encountered during a divorce in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. Those types were de facto and pendente lite custody, both of which relate to the early stages of a Maryland divorce. In part two, we move on to detail the differences between “physical custody” and “legal custody,” as well as various types of shared and emergency custody. If you have questions, call the St. Mary’s County, MD., Child Custody lawyers here at the Law Office of Robert Castro. Call us at (301) 870-1200 or use our contact page.

“Physical custody” and “legal custody”

Some divorcing parents are surprised that Maryland divorce courts recognize a distinction between physical and legal custody. Some parents are even more surprised when divorce courts make different decisions with respect to these two types of custody. As the name suggests, physical custody is about which parent has physical control over the child or children. Physical custody entails various responsibilities, like providing food, shelter, clothes, and other necessities. Physical custody also entails the right to determine things such as what type of food, where the child/children live, what type of clothes are needed, and also the right to provide discipline to the children where needed.

Legal custody, on the other hand, is about more esoteric matters that impact “life trajectories,” including matters like religious upbringing, private vs. public schooling, etc.

Because Maryland law favors both parents being involved in the raising of their children, it is very common for Maryland divorce courts to award joint legal custody to parents. This is common regardless of what decision the court makes with respect to physical custody.

Types of physical custody

Physical custody is awarded on a spectrum from sole custody to one parent (with not even visitation rights to the other parent) at one end of the spectrum to full joint custody awarded to both parents equally at the other end. However, the extremes are rare (unless the parents are in agreement). Where granted, sole custody is most often awarded with some sort of visitation rights given to the other parent. Visitation can vary from once a month to once a week, to weekends, to a month in the summer, etc.

On the other hand, joint custody involves the expectation that each parent will provide the daily necessities like food, clothing, and shelter. Both parental homes will have all the necessities for the children, including bedrooms, entertainment, sets of clothes, etc. Joint custody exists where one parent has the children at least 35% of the days/nights (35% being the minimum for a custody arrangement to be deemed “joint”).

Emergency custody

One final type of custody to define is emergency custody. This can occur, for example, if the custodial parent is incapacitated in some manner. On an emergency basis, the other parent would take control of the children. Another circumstance where there might be emergency custody is if the non-custodial parent sincerely believes there are imminent risks of substantial and immediate harm to the children. In such cases, a parent can seize control of the children and immediately report this to the Maryland state courts and law enforcement. Otherwise, the parent seizing the children will be charged with kidnapping their own children. Needless to say, the risks to the children must truly be substantial and imminent.

Contact Waldorf, Maryland Family Law and Child Custody Lawyer Robert Castro Today

This article has been provided by the Law Office of Robert Castro. For more information or questions, contact our office to speak to an experienced Maryland family law and divorce lawyer at (301) 870-1200. We are Waldorf, MD, Family Law lawyers. Our address is