Legal Information: Massachusetts

Custody

View all
Updated: 
March 29, 2019

What options are there for legal custody?

A judge may award one parent sole legal custody or both parents shared legal custody.

  • Sole legal custody means one parent will have the right to make major decisions about the child’s well-being, including matters of education, medical care and religious development.
  • Shared legal custody means that both parents have the right to take part in major decisions about the child’s well-being.1

1 M.G.L. 208 § 31

Next: What options are there for physical custody?
Legal Information

© 2008–2019 WomensLaw.org is a project of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, Inc. All rights reserved. This website is funded in part through a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). NNEDV is a 501©(3) non-profit organization; EIN 52-1973408.