Custody and Litigation, LGBQ Parents

When legal parents of minor children separate, whether they were married or not, provision must be made for continuing care of those children. From a legal point of view, there are two separate aspects of the child’s life that must be considered: Decision-making authority (also known as “legal custody”) must be allocated between the separating parents, and there must be a plan for where the child will live and how much time the child will spend with each parent—for “physical custody.” (The modern trend is toward use of the terms decision-making authority and residential provisions in place of “legal custody” and “physical custody,” respectively.) In addition, provision must be made for the financial support of the children.

Ideally, allocation of decision-making authority and the determination of ...