top of page) 6. What is the difference between legal custody and physical placement of my minor child?
Legal custody refers not to where the children are to live but to the allocation of decision-making authority among the parties with respect to major decisions. Physical placement is terminology used to refer to where the children are to physically live. Periods of physical placement refers to the time the children are placed with a particular parent or custodian. In Wisconsin, courts determine child custody and placement in a dispute by using a “best interests of the child” standard. To decide what your child’s best interests are, judges look at a series of factors. These factors look at the history of the parent/child relationship and how the child is doing in the parent’s care and in the community.
