St. Paul family law attorney Allison Maxim explains the role of each parent regarding legal custody. All decisions concerning the children such as medical decisions, educational decisions, and decisions related to religion fall under legal custody.
Transcription
Legal custody is decision making. So, major decisions about children, such as medical decisions, educational decisions and decisions related to religion are what’s contemplated in legal custody, and in Minnesota, it’s presumed under the law that parents can share joint legal custody. It’s presumed that parents are going to be able to make those decisions together, unless there’s a really good reason not to. For example, domestic abuse. If there’s domestic abuse present in a relationship, then the presumption changes and it’s presumed that parents cannot make those decisions together. It’ll depend on the unique situation of the parents on whether it makes sense to have joint legal or sole legal custody in any particular case.