Great question (and follow up questions).
- What are some types of 50-50 custody?
No matter what you call it (whether “50–50” or “50/50″), the meaning is the same: the children spend essentially equal periods of time in the care and custody of each parent. The ways that equal time can be divided are many.
Some parents divide equal time (50–50) between themselves by having the children spend a week with one parent, then the next week with the other parent, alternating every two weeks like that for the entire year.
Some parents who don’t want their children to go a whole week without being with a parent (especially when children are young) may adopt a rotating schedule like this:
Mom: Monday, Tuesday
Dad: Wednesday, Thursday
Mom: Friday through Sunday
Dad: Monday, Tuesday
Mom: Wednesday, Thursday
Dad: Friday through Sunday
This way, the kids see each parent every two or three days and they spend alternating weekends with each parent. As you can imagine, there are numerous alternatives to such a schedule. Some parents want to ensure they exercise custody on the same days of the week, so they might adopt a schedule like this (known as the “2–2–5–5 schedule”):
Mom: Monday morning (Mom gets kids to school, Dad picks up after school), Tuesday;
Dad: Wednesday, Thursday;
Mom: Friday through Wednesday;
Mom: Monday, Tuesday;
Dad: Thursday through Monday morning (Dad gets kids to school, Mom picks up after school).
Some parents will break up their repeating-pattern schedules by alternating certain holidays the children spend with each parent, even if that holiday would otherwise fall during the other parent’s regularly scheduled time with the children. This does not result in a less or more than 50–50 division of time but does help ensure that one parent does not always have the children with him/her for every Christmas, for example.
Sometimes the parents will also make provision for the children to spend 2 weeks with each parent during the summer, so that if a parent wants to take an extended vacation with the children, that parent can do so. Again, this does not result in a less or more than 50–50 division of time because each parent gets a 2-week period with the children in the summer.
There are many other ways to implement an equal custody (50–50) schedule, and one of the best resources for finding and understanding various schedules can be found at:
https://www.custodyxchange.com/topics/schedules/50-50/
and
https://www.custodyxchange.com/topics/schedules/50-50/7-examples.php
- Can one parent be the custodial parent in 50- 50 custody with the same equal time?
Not usually. “Custodial parent” usually means (in most jurisdictions) that one parent has been awarded sole physical custody of the children. “Sole physical custody” is something of a misnomer because “sole physical custody” does not mean that only one parent exercises all of the physical custody of the children but instead essentially means that he/she exercises the overwhelming majority of physical custody (such as when one parent has the children in his/her custody every week from Monday to Thursday and then every other week for the weekends, while the other parent—the “noncustodial parent”—exercises “visitation” or “parent-time” only every other week). Joint custody, on the other hand, means that the amount of time the children spend in the custody of each parent is more evenly distributed, though not necessarily equally distributed. Otherwise stated, if a parent is not on the somewhat minimal “every other weekend” schedule but gets time with the children over and above that (say, a “fat weekend” consisting of keeping the children overnight on Sunday instead of exchanging them with the other parent then, or gets a “midweek” overnight every week with the children or gets 6 out of every 14 days with the children—you get the idea), then that parent is considered to be a “joint” physical custodian and not a “noncustodial” parent. The parent exercising more custody may occasionally (not usually) be identified as the “primary physical custodian,” but the parents are both considered joint physical custodians.
But parents who are equal physical custodians are just that: equal* physical custodians; neither parent exercises more physical custody than the other, and so neither parent is labeled the custodial or noncustodial parent.
*Some of you reading this might think you’re clever by pointing out that a typical year has an odd number of days in it, and thus it is “impossible” for two parents to be truly “equal” physical custodians. Not so fast. Because a year has an odd number of days in it, that ensures that the parent who would exercise 183 overnights in, say, even-numbered years would exercise 182 overnights with the children in odd-numbered years. Thus, the number of overnights evens out. Besides, a difference of one overnight out of 365 is considered negligible, and the law does not consider that one-day difference material to the equal custody division of time between parents.
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277
