I get asked all the time, "What is joint custody in NJ?
What does it really mean in practical terms to me as someone who will be getting divorced here in New Jersey?"
Or "How do judges in N.J. tend to handle joint custody requests?"
Well, I can tell you this: they take it very seriously.
Last week I heard a judge yell at a lawyer for even using the word "visitation", saying "parents don't 'visit' with their children...they share 'parenting time'."
The bottom line is that in New Jersey, there are two broad types of custody.
Physical custody deals with where the child lives, and legal custody deals with who makes major decisions for the child.