Even in the midst of the myriad legal definitions that surround a divorce, parental responsibility for the child’s welfare breaks down into two general categories: custodial parents and non-custodial parents.
The custodial parent is the parent to whom the court granted custody and under whose roof the child is domiciled. The non-custodial parent is the “other parent”, not to put too fine a point on it. They are the parent who has court-ordered visitation rights and, while the child may stay with them for brief periods of time, their place of residence is still considered to be with the custodial parent.
Keep in mind that even the parent who has non-custodial status is still responsible for any court-ordered child support.
