Sole Custody Comes With a Lot of Responsibility
Video Transcribed:
What is sole custody in Oklahoma? I’m Tulsa Child Custody Attorney, James Wirth, and we’re talking about different custody options. And specifically, we’re talking about sole custody or full custody. So what does that mean in Oklahoma?
Well, first off, when we talk about sole custody, joint custody, we don’t mean physical custody. We don’t mean visitation schedule. We don’t mean where the child is when. What we mean is legal authority to make decisions.
Typically, the person who has sole custody has the majority of the physical custody time or the visitation schedule time. But that’s an actual requirement. They’re two separate things. Legal custody and joint custody.
In general, when we talk about custody, we’re talking about legal custody. So what is sole legal custody or full legal custody? It means that that person has the legal authority to make the big decisions for that child or those children.
So typically, for small stuff, it’s whoever has the child makes the decision. So what’s the child going to eat? What’s the child going to wear? If you’ve got the child for that physical custody time, that visitation scheduled time, typically you would make that.
But for the big decisions, it’s going to be the sole legal custodian that decides that. Or if it’s joint custody, the joint custodian. So what are the big legal decisions?
That’s going to be where the child goes to school, extracurricular activities, what church the child is a member of. All those big things, elective medical procedures. Those have to be decided by the legal custodian. And if you’ve got sole custody, that’s you. You make that decision.
The other parent isn’t involved in that decision. So that’s what Oklahoma sole custody is. If you’ve got questions on how that applies to your circumstances, you’re going to want to talk and consult privately with an attorney. To get that setup, you can go to makelaweasy.com.
