PRACTICE AREA

WHAT TO EXPECT

There are two types of custody: legal and physical custody.

Physical custody is the one most people care about and involves where the child actually spends time. Legal custody is the right of access to information to things such as medical and educational records, as well as decision making rights.

PHYSICAL CUSTODY

There are two types of physical custody: joint and primary. Joint is where the parties share custody approximately equally; and primary custody is where one parent has the majority of the custodial time and the other parent has visitation.

Nevada tends to be joint physical custody friendly. This means that if you have been an active parent and assert your custodial rights— and there is nothing wrong with you, you stand a good chance at having joint physical custody.

Things that could affect your ability to get joint physical custody and cause the court to award the other parent primary physical custody could be: 1) history of domestic violence; 2) history of mental illness; 3) history of substance abuse; 4) evidence of disrespecting the other parent’s rights; and 5) any evidence that would tend to show that it is not in the child’s best interest for you to have joint physical custody.

This is not an exhaustive list and every case is different.

To have joint physical custody, the threshold is generally three nights per week. This has been a topic up for debate for years as to how you count time, but if you have three nights a week, it is a safe bet that all judges in Las Vegas would consider this joint physical custody