Do you have children and are planning to get a divorce? This can bring up a variety of questions that you need to know the answer to. Here are a few of those common questions about children.

What Are The Different Custody Classifications?

There are two types of custody that will need to be decided on during a divorce, which is legal and physical custody. Legal custody is who will be making the decisions about a child while they are underage. The decisions can include where the child will go to school, what religion they will be taught, and even what medical treatments they will get. It is very common for both parents to be given legal custody as a 50/50 split so that decisions must be made jointly.

Legal custody has nothing to do with physical custody, which is who the child will be physically with most of the time. The parent with physical custody has control over the day-to-day decisions about the child, which range from when they go to bed to what they have for meals. Physical custody can be split 50/50 between both parents, but it is typically not done that way in the best interest in the child. The court may decide that it is better for the child to stay with one parent during the week so that they can have minimal disruptions during the school year and limit the travel to and from homes. It is also common to give one parent a greater amount of physical custody so that the child has some normalcy in their life with having a primary residence. 

When Do You Stop Paying Child Support?

It is common for child support to end when a child reaches 18 years old, but child support does not automatically end when they hit that specific age. You'll still need to take steps to have the court end child support payments when they are of the age where they are legally considered an adult, or else that obligation will continue for each month. 

How Do You Decide On Your Parenting Plan?

You and your spouse will need to decide on what kind of parenting plan you will have after the divorce. This includes things such as how holidays will be split between the parents, who handles transportation of the child to certain activities, and even how medical costs are split. Your lawyer can help to come up with a parenting plan using examples from previous cases. The majority of these decisions will be made in mediation between you and your spouse, and then the lawyer will present that plan to the court for approval. 

For more information about divorce, speak with a divorce lawyer. Start your search for one online by visiting sites like http://gomezmaylaw.com/.