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How does Tennessee handle joint custody?

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Last Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Read Time: 2 mins

Transcript:

00:00:00

The way Tennessee handles joint custody is that if you have a child out of wedlock and you file a petition to establish parentage, if you two agree that you should both be joint custodians of your children, then the court will enter an order to that effect. When we talk about joint custody, there are two types of custody. One is legal custody and one is physical custody. Legal custody is who’s going to be making decisions about the minor child or children throughout their lives, such as non-emergency healthcare, education,

00:00:36

extracurricular activities, and religious upbringing. If you two have joint custody, then you will both have to decide together what that decision is going to be. If you can’t agree, a court could make the decision on your behalf. If you and your other parent disagree about a non-emergency healthcare, you can include a provision that you will stick with the doctor’s decision pending the resolution of the dispute in mediation or at court. The other type of custody is physical custody. If you have joint

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physical custody, that means that both of you will be splitting your time with the children on a 5050 basis. And the way most folks do that is on a week-on week off basis. So if you two agree on joint legal and joint physical custody, you will simply enter an order to that effect that lays out that in a little bit more detail.

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