Legal Question in Family Law in California

Re: legal custody vs. physical custody

As Mr. McGinity wrote, the amount of visitation/parenting time you have with your son does not relate to legal custody, which is about decision-making. Joint legal custody means 50/50 involvement in decision making for your child (usually excepting emergencies). So, BOTH parents are usually required to consent to important decisions like changing schools or non-emergency medical treatment.

Re: legal custody vs. physical custody

I am assuming you are in California. First if what you are describing as Physical custody is actually parenting time and you are telling me your time split is a 60-40 split with your ex-wife having the children 60% of the time and you having them 40% of the time than your time split has nothing to do with the issues of legal custody. Legal custody addresses the decisions regarding the Health, education & welfare of the children.

Parenting time no matter what the percentage does not equate to the percentage of legal custody.

Most dissolutions end with the parents having Joint legal custody and a time share division somewhere between 80-20 and 50-50. The time with one parent does not related to a percentage of legal custody, except when the child is with one parent, that parent in an emergency may have to make a decision without consulting the other parent. That decision may related to the issues involved in legal custody.

However Physical custody and legal custody are two different things.

If you share Joint Legal custody, than you both have an equal voice in the Health, education & welfare of the child. How that would be applied in a DMV situation, I have no idea. Good luck.