Custody

In Oregon, custody means having the right to make major decisions about your children’s welfare.¹ Some people also call this “legal custody.” Major decisions include: 

• where your children live;
• what school they go to;
• what kind of medical care they get;
• what religion they follow, if any.²

Custody can be divided in different ways:

• Joint custody means that both parents share the rights and responsibilities to make these major decisions. Even if parents have joint custody, one parent may have the sole power to make certain major decisions, while the parents make other decisions together. Also, even if the parents have joint decision-making, the children may mostly live at one parent’s home, called a “primary residence.”²
   
• Sole custody means only one parent makes these major decisions.² If one parent has sole custody, they may be called the “custodial parent.”³ The other parent may be called the “non-custodial parent^.”4

¹ See the Oregon Courts’ “Words I Need to Know” Parenting Plan Guide glossary, which defines custody and other words you may hear in a custody case
² Or. Rev. Stat. § 107.169(1)
³ See Or. Rev. Stat. § 107.154
⁴ See the Oregon Courts’ Family Law Legal Terms and Definitions page