Joint Legal Custody is the Standard in Gwinnett County Divorce Cases

In the vast majority of divorce cases filed in Gwinnett County that involve minor children, the judge will order that both parents have Joint Legal Custody of the minor children.

Joint Legal Custody is not the same as Joint Physical Custody

Joint Legal Custody means that both parties have equal right to be part of the decision-making process in regards to major issues involving a minor child.

Georgia law defines “Joint legal custody” as meaning “both parents have equal rights and responsibilities for major decisions concerning the child, including the child's education, health care, extracurricular activities, and religious training”.

Judges in Gwinnett County Superior Court will often grant the parents in a divorce case joint legal custody of the minor children, but will name one of the parents as the primary physical custodian of the children.

A ‘Tiebreaker' Party will be Designated by a Gwinnett Judge if there is a dispute on a major issue

Gwinnett County judges in divorce cases involving minor children that grant the parties joint legal custody will also designate a party to be the ‘tiebreaker' in the event the parties cannot agree as to a decision involving issues regarding a minor child's education, health care, extracurricular activities, and religious training.

The tiebreaker is usually the parent that has primary physical custody of the minor children, however, judges can, and do at times, name one parent to be the tiebreaker on certain major issues and the other parent to be the tiebreaker on the other major issues.

If you have any questions about custody, joint custody, visitation, parenting time or any other issue involved in a Gwinnett County divorce case, please contact attorney Doug Lewis by phone at 770-682-3765 or via email at [email protected] for free initial phone consultation.

Lawrenceville Divorce Lawyer Douglas W. Lewis has over twenty years of experience in Gwinnett County and the Atlanta Metro area handling divorce, legitimation, paternity and child custody cases, family law cases, personal injury cases, criminal defense, civil litigation cases and estate planning matters.  If you have any questions please call the Lawrenceville office for a free initial phone consultation or to schedule an office consultation.  You can contact attorney Doug Lewis by telephone at 770-682-3765, via email.