Physical Custody of Children in Virginia

In Virginia, we have primary physical custody; we have shared physical custody and we have split physical custody.  Primary physical custody is what most people are traditionally accustomed to and that's where the children live primarily with one parent and have visitation with the other parent.  Visitation schedule might look something like every other weekend and some visitation time during the week and then split holidays and extra time during the summer.  Shared physical custody is something where it's not necessarily a 50/50 split of the children's time but the children are time sharing more than they would under a traditional primary physical custody model and so there are different ways that parents agree or the court orders that they share their time with their children but it's something more than a traditional custody, visitation schedule.  Split custody is when some children live with one parent and some children live with the other parent.  Typically when you see split custody it's when the parents have got together and they've decided between the two of them that based on the children's relationships with each parent that it's better for their family for some children to live with one parent and some children to live with the other parent.  Courts sometimes will order split custody but usually the courts like to keep brothers and sisters together, so typically when you see a split custody arrangement it's because that's what the family decided for themselves was best for their family.