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

Legal Information: Nevada

Custody

View all
Updated: 
January 9, 2024

What is legal custody?

Legal custody means you have legal responsibility for your child. It means you have the right to make major decisions about your child regarding his/her health, education, religious upbringing, and more.1

There are two types of legal custody:  

  1. sole legal custody; or 
  2. joint legal custody.

If you have sole legal custody, you alone have the right to make all major decisions affecting your child’s life.

If you have joint legal custody, you and the other parent must consult with each other to make major decisions about your child.1 To learn when a judge will give joint legal custody, see When will a judge give joint legal custody?

1 Rivero v. Rivero, 216 P.3d 213 (2009)

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.