Child Custody and Visitation Attorney in Dallas, Texas
What is the difference between physical and legal custody?
What is the difference between physical and legal custody?
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00:04
the difference between physical and
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legal custody
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a little different in texas surprise
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surprise we always are a little
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different
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so we refer to it as conservatorship
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and possession and access okay
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possession and access
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is exactly what it sounds like it’s the
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amount of time
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that you or your spouse or the other
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parent
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have with the child okay conservatorship
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is all about the child-rearing decisions
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to be made
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and that’s where things can really get
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very hectic so the big ones
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on that are non-emergent medical care
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psychological care psychiatric care
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and educational decisions it is amazing
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how often people disagree about that
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so you can see a lot of it here’s just
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one example
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where a child has add or adhd
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there are opinions all over the place
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about do you
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medicate a child or do you not medicate
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a child
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and what is the severity of the add or
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adhd so are you creating
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a little zombie or are you really
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getting it to where
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little johnny can participate
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in class without just being all over the
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damn place
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you know so that’s there’s a lot of
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conflict that comes up with that so
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that falls you know you’ve got
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educational decisions there because you
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can get into
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is it something where if he still has
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add or adhd and it’s unmedicated that
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you have to go through uh some special
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education classes or
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what you know what has to be done there
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and then you’ve got the
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the psychiatric psychological uh
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other issues that can come in as well as
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the medication so
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there are a whole lot of issues there
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and that’s where a whole lot of the meat
01:50
is and where
01:51
frankly a lot of litigation is
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Dallas, TX family law attorney Mark Scroggins explains the difference between physical and legal custody. He explains that in Texas, the distinction between physical and legal custody is handled a bit differently than in other states. Instead of traditional custody terminology, Texas uses “conservatorship” and “possession and access.”
“Possession and access” refers to the actual time a parent spends with the child—essentially, the schedule of physical custody. Conservatorship, on the other hand, focuses on decision-making authority regarding the child’s upbringing. This is where conflicts often arise.
Key areas of conservatorship include non-emergency medical care, psychological or psychiatric care, and educational decisions. Disagreements in these areas are common. For example, when a child has ADD or ADHD, parents may clash over whether the child should be medicated, and if so, to what extent. The debate often revolves around whether medication is necessary to help the child function in class or whether it could unnecessarily alter their behavior.
Educational decisions can also create disputes, such as whether the child requires special education if the condition is untreated. Similarly, psychiatric or psychological care, along with medication management, adds layers of complexity. According to him, these are the areas where most of the substantive issues arise—and where a significant portion of litigation tends to occur.
