WomensLaw serves and supports all survivors, no matter their sex or gender.

Legal Information: North Carolina

Custody

Updated: 
December 22, 2023

What is custody?

Custody is the physical care and supervision of a child under 18 years of age. Physical custody is used to describe the person with whom the child lives on a day-to-day basis. Legal custody is used to describe the person who has the right to make major decisions concerning the child, including decisions about the child’s education, health care, and religious training.1

There are two different types of custody arrangements: joint/shared custody and sole/exclusive custody.2 Then there is visitation, which refers to the time that the child spends with the parent who the child does not live with.

1 NCGS § 50A-102(3)
2 NCGS § 50-13.2(b)

Legal Information

© 2008–2024 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.