Depending on how you feel about your ex-spouse, you may believe that the children are better off entirely in your custody and you may be against the typical co-parenting situation. If this is the case, you may be wondering if you should try to get sole custody of the kids. According to Findlaw, it is very uncommon for individuals to get sole custody of children after divorce unless situations like addiction or violence are present.
The most common custody situation in the US is co-parenting. In a co-parenting situation, typically both parents share legal custody of the child. This means that both parents have a say in issues such as medical decisions and schooling. It is also common for both parents to share physical custody of the child, meaning that the child will move back and forth between the residences of the mother and the father according to a predefined schedule. This is the most common situation in the US in modern times, due to research proving that children that thrive in environments where both parents are equally involved in their raising, even if both parents do not reside together.
As the role of the family law courtroom is to make decisions in the best interest of the child, co-parenting is the General Baseline unless there are extenuating circumstances. Examples of extenuating circumstances involve one parent being involved in drugs or potentially having a history of violence. In this case, co-parenting would not be in the best interest of the child and thus one parent will be awarded sole legal and physical custody.
Barring this, however, co-parenting is the default and what you should expect after divorce.
