{"id":374049,"date":"2019-01-07T11:22:54","date_gmt":"2019-01-07T16:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-law\/state\/massachusetts-law\/primary-child-custody-factors-in-massachusetts.html"},"modified":"2019-01-09T13:27:33","modified_gmt":"2019-01-09T18:27:33","slug":"primary-child-custody-factors-in-massachusetts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/state\/massachusetts-law\/primary-child-custody-factors-in-massachusetts.html","title":{"rendered":"Primary Child Custody Factors in Massachusetts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 fl-sectionWithSidebar fl-container fl-flex fl-flex-wrap fl-gap30\">\n    \n    <div class=\"fl-page-articles fl-section-main fl-section-main-full-width\">\n        <h1 class=\"fl-no-margin-top\">Primary Child Custody Factors in Massachusetts<\/h1>\n<section class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline\">\n    <div class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-content\">\n                    <p><i>Created by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/our-team.html\">FindLaw&#8217;s team<\/a> of legal writers and editors<\/i><\/p>\n\n                | Last reviewed\n        <time>\n                            January 09, 2019\n                    <\/time>\n    <\/div>\n\n    \n    <details class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle fl-gutenberg-byline-legally-reviewed\">\n        <summary>\n            <i class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\n            Legally Reviewed\n        <\/summary>\n\n        <div class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle-content\">\n            <p><em>This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy, clarity, and style by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/our-team.html\">FindLaw\u2019s team of legal writers and attorneys<\/a> and in accordance with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/company-history\/editorial-policy.html\">our editorial standards<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/details>\n\n    <details class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle fl-gutenberg-byline-fast-checked\">\n        <summary>\n            <i class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\n            Fact-Checked\n        <\/summary>\n\n        <div class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle-content\">\n            <p><em>The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/our-team\/contributing-authors.html\">contributing authors<\/a>. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please <a href=\"https:\/\/lawyers.findlaw.com\/?fli=bylinelink\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">contact an attorney in your area<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/details>\n<\/section>\n<p>When a parent spends most of the time with their child and that parent typically resides with their child, it&#8217;s often referred to as &quot;primary custody.&quot; However, every state has slight variations in how they refer to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/family\/child-custody.html\" target=\"_blank\">custody<\/a> categories. Massachusetts uses the following child custody designations:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Sole legal custody;<\/li>\r\n<li>Shared legal custody;<\/li>\r\n<li>Sole physical custody; and<\/li>\r\n<li>Shared physical custody.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>Massachusetts courts make all custody decisions based on the <a  target=\"_blank\">child&#8217;s best interests.<\/a> They typically presume that it&#8217;s in the best interests for both parents to be equally involved in the child&#8217;s life and that favors providing shared custody whenever possible. However, there are times when one parent may show signs of behavior that can place a child&#8217;s welfare at risk. In situations like these, the court would likely order sole custody to the other parent. Courts weigh numerous factors in making these determinations, including a look at which parent has acted as the child&#8217;s main caretaker throughout the couple&#8217;s relationship.<\/p>\r\n<h2>Overview of Primary Child Custody Factors in Massachusetts<\/h2>\r\n<p>When dealing with legal matters, you want to make sure that you know the exact meaning of the relevant statutes. A good way to accomplish this is by referring to a guide that breaks down the statutes into readable language. Read on for a basic overview of the law that details primary child custody factors in Massachusetts.<\/p>\r\n<table cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"7\" border=\"1\">\r\n<tbody><tr><td><p><b>Statutes<\/b><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td><p>Massachusetts General Laws:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/codes.findlaw.com\/ma\/part-ii-real-and-personal-property-and-domestic-relations-ch-183-210\/ma-gen-laws-ch-209c-sect-3.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chapter 209, Section 3<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/codes.findlaw.com\/ma\/part-ii-real-and-personal-property-and-domestic-relations-ch-183-210\/ma-gen-laws-ch-208-sect-28.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chapter 208, Section 28<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/codes.findlaw.com\/ma\/part-ii-real-and-personal-property-and-domestic-relations-ch-183-210\/ma-gen-laws-ch-208-sect-28a.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chapter 208, Section 28A<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/codes.findlaw.com\/ma\/part-ii-real-and-personal-property-and-domestic-relations-ch-183-210\/ma-gen-laws-ch-208-sect-31.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chapter 208, Section.31<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/codes.findlaw.com\/ma\/part-ii-real-and-personal-property-and-domestic-relations-ch-183-210\/ma-gen-laws-ch-209-sect-38.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chapter 209, Section 38<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr><tr><td><p><b>Types of Custody<\/b><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td><p><b><i>Sole legal custody:<\/i><\/b> one parent has the rights and responsibilities to make major decisions regarding the child&#8217;s welfare including the following:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Religious upbringing of the child;<\/li>\r\n<li>Medical care of the child; and<\/li>\r\n<li>Education of the child.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><b><i>Shared legal custody:<\/i><\/b> continued mutual responsibility and involvement by both parents in major decisions regarding the child&#8217;s welfare including:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Religious upbringing of the child;<\/li>\r\n<li>Medical care of the child; and<\/li>\r\n<li>Education of the child.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><b><i>Sole physical custody:<\/i><\/b> a child resides with and is under the supervision of one parent and has visitation with the other parent (unless the court determines the visitation isn&#8217;t in the child&#8217;s best interests.)<\/p>\r\n<p><b><i>Shared physical custody:<\/i><\/b> a child has periods of residing with and being under the supervision of each parent.<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr><tr><td><p><b>Primary Child Custody Factors: Parents&#8217; Rights<\/b><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td><p>The rights of parents are equal, unless there&#8217;s parental misconduct; the happiness and welfare of the child determines custody decisions.<\/p>\r\n<p>When considering the happiness and welfare of the child, the court considers whether the child&#8217;s present or past living conditions adversely affects their physical, mental, moral, or emotional health.<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr><tr><td><p><b>Factors that Can Be Considered for Custody<\/b><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td><p>When the court considers whether shared legal custody is in the best interests of the child, the following factors are relevant:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Whether any member of the family abuses alcohol or other drugs; or<\/li>\r\n<li>Whether any party has deserted the child; and<\/li>\r\n<li>Whether the parties have a history of being able and willing to cooperate in matters concerning the child.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\r\n<p><b><i>Note:<\/i><\/b> <i>State laws are always subject to change through the passage of new legislation, rulings in the higher courts (including federal decisions), ballot initiatives, and other means. While we strive to provide the most current information available, please consult an attorney or conduct your own legal research to verify the state law(s) you are researching.<\/i><\/p>\r\n<h2>Related Resources for Primary Child Custody Factors in Massachusetts:<\/h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/state\/massachusetts-law\/massachusetts-family-laws.html\" target=\"_blank\">Massachusetts Family Laws<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/state\/massachusetts-law\/massachusetts-child-custody-laws.html\" target=\"_blank\">Massachusetts Child Custody Laws<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/family\/paternity\/child-visitation-child-custody-and-unmarried-fathers.html\" target=\"_blank\">Child Visitation, Child Custody and Unmarried Fathers<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>Discuss Custody Issues with a Massachusetts Attorney<\/h2>\r\n<p>Knowing the factors that Massachusetts uses to determine custody is an important first step in assessing your custody rights. Get detailed information about how the law impacts your specific case by discussing it with an experienced <a href=\"https:\/\/lawyers.findlaw.com\/custody-visitation\/massachusetts\/?fli=dcta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Massachusetts family law attorney<\/a> near you.<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"was-this-helpful\">\n    <div\n            class=\"was-this-helpful__question-container\"\n            aria-labelledby=\"was-this-helpful__question\"\n            role=\"group\"\n    >\n        <span\n                id=\"was-this-helpful__question\"\n                class=\"was-this-helpful__question fl-text-lg-bold\"\n        >Was this helpful?<\/span>\n        <button\n                class=\"was-this-helpful__button fl-text-sm\"\n                aria-label=\"Yes\"\n                value=\"yes\"\n        >\n            <span class=\"was-this-helpful__button-text fl-text-bold\">Yes<\/span>\n            <i class=\"was-this-helpful__button-icon\">\n                <svg width=\"22\" height=\"22\" viewBox=\"0 0 22 22\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n                    <g id=\"thumbs-up\" clip-path=\"url(#clip0_604_3418)\">\n                        <path id=\"Vector\"\n                              d=\"M6 21H3C2.46957 21 1.96086 20.7893 1.58579 20.4142C1.21071 20.0391 1 19.5304 1 19V12C1 11.4696 1.21071 10.9609 1.58579 10.5858C1.96086 10.2107 2.46957 10 3 10H6M13 8V4C13 3.20435 12.6839 2.44129 12.1213 1.87868C11.5587 1.31607 10.7956 1 10 1L6 10V21H17.28C17.7623 21.0055 18.2304 20.8364 18.5979 20.524C18.9654 20.2116 19.2077 19.7769 19.28 19.3L20.66 10.3C20.7035 10.0134 20.6842 9.72068 20.6033 9.44225C20.5225 9.16382 20.3821 8.90629 20.1919 8.68751C20.0016 8.46873 19.7661 8.29393 19.5016 8.17522C19.2371 8.0565 18.9499 7.99672 18.66 8H13Z\"\n                              stroke=\"#666666\" stroke-width=\"2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\n                              stroke-linejoin=\"round\"><\/path>\n                    <\/g>\n                  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secondary\"\n                    type=\"submit\"\n                >\n                    <span class=\"fl-button-content\">Submit<\/span>\n                    <i\n                        class=\"fa fa-angle-right medium\"\n                        aria-hidden=\"true\"\n                    ><\/i>\n                <\/button>\n                <button\n                    class=\"was-this-helpful__feedback-button was-this-helpful__feedback-button--cancel fl-button primary disabled\"\n                    type=\"reset\"\n                >\n                    <span class=\"fl-button-content\">Cancel<\/span>\n                    <i\n                        class=\"fa fa-times-circle medium\"\n                        aria-hidden=\"true\"\n                    ><\/i>\n                <\/button>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/form>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"was-this-helpful__thank-you-message\" role=\"status\">\n        <i class=\"was-this-helpful__thank-you-message-icon fa fa-check\"><\/i>\n        <p class=\"was-this-helpful__thank-you-message-text\" aria-live=\"polite\"><\/p>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"fl-section-sidebar\">\n        <div class=\"fl-editors-summary\" data-testid=\"fl-editors-summary\">\n    \n    <div class=\"fl-editors-summary-content\" data-testid=\"fl-editors-summary-content\">\n                    <h2>Can I Solve This on My Own or Do I Need an Attorney?<\/h2>\n                <div class=\"fl-editors-summary-content-main\" data-testid=\"fl-editors-summary-content-main\">\n            \n        <\/div>\n        <ul class=\"fl-list-style-none\">\n                            <li data-testid=\"fl-editors-summary-content-item\">\n                    <i class=\"fa fa-check medium fl-editors-summary-content-item-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\n                    Custody &#038; child visitation cases are emotional, and a lawyer can seek the best outcome\n\n                <\/li>\n                       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<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FindLaw&#8217;s article on Primary Child Custody Factors in Massachusetts. For more information on this and related topics, see FindLaw&#8217;s section on Massachusetts Family Laws. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41135,"featured_media":0,"parent":373912,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"app\/Http\/Controllers\/Templates\/ArticleWithBreadcrumbsController.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":true,"_modified_date":"","_autodraft_ids":[],"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"_sb_is_suggestion_mode":false,"_sb_show_suggestion_boards":false,"_sb_show_comment_boards":false,"_sb_suggestion_history":"","_sb_update_block_changes":"","_is_real_time_mode":false,"_realtime_collaborators":"","footnotes":"","cf_checklist_status":[]},"categories":[2743],"tags":[],"state_laws_tags":[3055],"flmsa":[],"class_list":["post-374049","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-state","state_laws_tags-statelaws_22_2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/374049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/374049\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/373912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374049"},{"taxonomy":"state_laws_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/state_laws_tags?post=374049"},{"taxonomy":"flmsa","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/flmsa?post=374049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}