Joint physical custody means the child has substantially equal time and contact with both parents.
What the Statute Says
Under OCGA 19-9-6(6), joint physical custody means “physical custody is shared by the parents in such a way as to assure the child of substantially equal time and contact with both parents.” A judge may award it at a temporary or permanent hearing, OCGA 19-9-3(a)(1), with or without joint legal custody, OCGA 19-9-6(4), which our post on joint legal custody explains.
Time and Contact
The Court of Appeals reversed an award of sole custody to a mother in In the Interest of A.R.B., 209 Ga. App. 324 (1993), because the juvenile court had not properly considered joint custody between two fit parents. Joint physical custody “involves time and contact,” it explained, and “[c]ontact, of course, includes other means of communication.” It “should not be automatically rejected simply because the parents live in places distant from each other.” In the same case, Baldwin v. Baldwin, 265 Ga. 465 (1995), the Georgia Supreme Court later held that joint custody need not be ordered unless it serves the child’s best interest, as our post on sole custody explains.
Custody Is Not Just Parenting Time
When one parent has sole custody, the other, unless the order provides otherwise, “shall have the right to visitation or parenting time.” OCGA 19-9-6(11). So the split of days alone does not decide what custody each parent has.
In Lewis v. Lewis, 252 Ga. App. 539 (2001), the divorce decree provided that the parents “shall share physical custody of the children” and named neither one primary custodian. The mother had the children about 60 percent of the time and received child support. The Court of Appeals held that the parents had joint physical custody. The case arose on the father’s petition to change custody, a separate subject.
Our post on whether joint custody ends child support covers how shared time affects support.
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!