California Child Custody Laws 2025 – Know Your Legal Rights

Anyone who has a custody order or is in the process of getting one should familiarize themselves with California’s child custody laws. Whether you are the custodial parent, a parent with visitation rights, or you share joint custody with your child’s other parent, it’s important to know your legal obligations, as well as your rights. This will ensure your parental rights are protected, and your child’s well-being is cared for.

California Child Custody Laws

Child custody is a right and a responsibility of both parents to care for their children. California recognizes two types of child custody. The first is legal custody. The parent who has legal custody has a responsibility to their child to make any important decisions on their behalf. These include medical, education, religion, extracurricular activities, and others. The second type of custody is physical custody, or the parent with whom the child lives.

One parent can have both legal and physical custody, which is referred to as sole legal custody. If one parent has sole custody, the other parent may still have court-ordered parenting time within the parenting plan. Alternatively, both parents can share the decision-making responsibility and the physical custody.

Visitation Orders

California child Custody laws define four primary visitation types:

• Scheduled. Children visit with each parent according to a set schedule that usually involves predetermined schedules for holidays, birthdays, and/or vacations. This avoids conflict and sets expectations.
• Supervised. When the child’s safety or well-being is a concern when visiting with a parent, supervised visits may be required. Further conditions may be included in a court order for supervised visits, such as who will supervise the visits or where they will take place.
• Reasonable. Reasonable visitation is a flexible visitation plan that allows the parents the opportunity to work out visitation at their convenience. This is usually granted to parents who have an open communication style and get along well.
• No visitation. When it is absolutely in the child’s best interest not to have visitation with a parent due to potential physical or emotional harm to the child, a judge will order no visitation.

Seeking the legal advice of a qualified California child support attorney can help you better understand the different types of custody. You can request a certain custody arrangement and compose a parenting plan.

If you and your child’s other parent can compromise on a parenting plan before seeing the judge, the court may find it is a good fit for the child. If it includes all the important and necessary items for an effective parenting plan, the court may sign off on it straightaway.

How the Courts Decide

A judge takes into consideration a number of factors when determining custody, according to the unique situation of each individual case. If you hire a child custody lawyer, they can help you present your case to the court, including evidence, testimonies, school records, and other information relevant to your child’s best interest.

Some of the things the court will consider in child custody cases include the following:

• the financial, emotional, and physical condition of each parent in regard to their ability to care for the child
• the age and health status of the child
• the child’s relationship with each parent, as well as the child’s connection to family members and community ties, if one parent lives in a different area
• any history of domestic violence or substance abuse by each parent
• in some cases, depending on the age and maturity of the child, the child’s preference

An experienced child custody lawyer can assist you in writing a parenting plan, which can also be useful in child custody cases. An attorney can also assist families with a modification request to change existing custody orders.

Why Choose Us?

When something as important as your child’s well-being is at stake, you want the highest quality of legal representation you can get. Erica Bloom Law is a dedicated family lawyer, recognized by our clients as a cut above our competition. We are vested in every case we take to ensure children get the voice they deserve when everyone else is making decisions for them. We genuinely want what’s best for your child.

FAQs

What Is the Biggest Mistake in a Custody Battle?

The biggest mistake in a custody battle is putting your child in the middle of a fight. Using the desire to gain custody of your child just to spite your child’s other parent can be detrimental to your long-term relationship with your child. Custody orders should be made with only one consideration—the best interest of the child.

What Rights Do Fathers Have in California for Child Custody?

When it comes to child custody rights in California, fathers have the same rights as mothers. Fathers have the right to request full custody of their children. In some child custody cases, fathers have to establish paternity with the court, especially if they were never married to their child’s mother. This is a simple test, though, and requires nothing more than a swab of the mouth.

Is California a 50/50 Custody State?

California is not officially a 50/50 custody state. In many cases, though, 50/50 custody is granted if the family agrees to it and no other factors come into play that may influence a judge to award equal custody. Every case is different, and every decision comes down to what’s best for the child. If equal custody is in the child’s best interest, a judge will recognize it, but there’s no law that defaults to 50/50 custody.

What Rights Does a Parent Without Legal Custody Have in California?

In California, without legal custody, a parent has no legal right to make major decisions on behalf of their child. They cannot have a say in the religion their child is exposed to, medical decisions for the child, or educational decisions. Other major decisions that a parent without legal custody cannot make include choices about extracurricular activities and the child’s travel or vacation plans.

Hire a Child Custody Lawyer Who Fights for What’s Right

Erica Bloom Law will fight tirelessly for your family, helping you move forward with confidence, knowing your case was resolved as favorably as possible. Contact our office to discuss your child custody case and see for yourself just how passionate we are about helping your family.