Legal Question in Family Law in Kentucky

Re: joint custody of a child.

The term "Joint Custody" has caused more problems than it has solved. I means that both parents have equal parental rights to the child. In order to understand what this means, you must know that When courts used to award custody to one parent or another, the non-custodial parent was not able to do certain things like consent to medical treatment; have acess to school records, etc. The principle of "joint custody" is to recogonize that just because the parents do not live together for whatever reason, they still remain parents. The next question is "Where does the child live?". If you apply joint custody without modification then some courts have said that the child lives equally with both parents. This may be all right if the parents live in the same town and all other things, like school, do not change. A child suffers, in my opinion, in this circumstance.

The divorce decree or judgment should set out who has "primary residential custody" or other words to that effect and the Court defines those rights and their boundaries. Each case is different. Modern life dictates that persons be able to move. When persons cannot manage their personal lives themselves and must seek court help, no one is happy. Interstate, and now international custody issues present problems. The divorce deree or order establishing custody and visitation controls. If a party is not complying with the order or it should be modified to increase visitation then you must go back to court absent an agreement which also must be approved by the court. Seek the advise of local counsel.