Chapter 9. Child Custody Proceedings · Article 1. General Provisions · Last amended 2024 · Last verified October 9, 2026
In one sentenceO.C.G.A. § 19-9-6 defines the key terms of Georgia’s general custody article — sole custody, joint custody, joint legal custody and joint physical custody — along with the military terms, such as deployment and military family care plan, used in the deployment rules.
(1)“Armed forces” means the national guard and the reserve components of the armed forces, the United States army, navy, marine corps, space force, coast guard, and air force.
(2)“Deploy” or “deployment” means military service in compliance with the military orders received by a member of the armed forces to report for combat operations, contingency operations, peacekeeping operations, a remote tour of duty, temporary duty, or other such military service for which a parent is required to report unaccompanied by family members. Deployment shall include the period during which a military parent remains subject to deployment orders and remains deployed on account of sickness, wounds, leave, or other lawful cause. Such term shall include mobilization.
(3)“Deploying parent” or “deployed parent” means a military parent who has been formally notified by military leadership that he or she will deploy or mobilize or who is currently deployed or mobilized.
(4)“Joint custody” means joint legal custody, joint physical custody, or both joint legal custody and joint physical custody. In making an order for joint custody, the judge may order joint legal custody without ordering joint physical custody.
(5)“Joint legal custody” means both parents have equal rights and responsibilities for major decisions concerning the child, including the child's education, health care, extracurricular activities, and religious training; provided, however, that the judge may designate one parent to have sole power to make certain decisions while both parents retain equal rights and responsibilities for other decisions.
(6)“Joint physical custody” means that physical custody is shared by the parents in such a way as to assure the child of substantially equal time and contact with both parents.
(7)“Military family care plan” means a plan that is periodically reviewed by a military parent's commander that provides for care of a military parent's child whenever his or her military duties prevent such parent from providing care to his or her child and ensures that a military parent has made adequate and reasonable arrangements to provide for the needs and supervision of his or her child whenever a nondeploying parent is unable or unavailable to provide care in the military parent's absence.
(8)“Military parent” means a member of the armed forces who is a legal parent, adoptive parent, or guardian of a child under the age of 18, whose parental rights are established either by operation of law or the process of legitimation, and who has not had his or her parental rights terminated by a court of competent jurisdiction.
(9)“Mobilization” or “mobilize” means the call-up of the national guard and the reserve components of the armed forces to extended active duty service. Such term shall not include National Guard or Reserves component annual training, inactive duty days, drill weekends, or state active duty performed within the boundaries of this state.
(A)A parent who is not a member of the armed forces; or
(B)A military parent who is currently not also a deploying parent.
(11)“Sole custody” means a person, including, but not limited to, a parent, has been awarded permanent custody of a child by a court order. Unless otherwise provided by court order, the person awarded sole custody of a child shall have the rights and responsibilities for major decisions concerning the child, including the child's education, health care, extracurricular activities, and religious training, and the noncustodial parent shall have the right to visitation or parenting time. A person who has not been awarded custody of a child by court order shall not be considered as the sole legal custodian while exercising visitation rights or parenting time.
(12)“State active duty” means the call-up by a governor for the performance of any military duty while serving within the boundaries of that state.
(13)“Temporary duty” means the assignment of a military parent to a geographic location outside of this state for a limited period of time to accomplish training or to assist in the performance of a military mission.
End
Plain-English Summary
This definitions section gives exact meanings to the custody labels that appear in orders throughout Georgia. Joint custody means joint legal custody, joint physical custody, or both, and a judge may order joint legal custody without joint physical custody. Joint legal custody means both parents have equal rights and responsibilities for major decisions about the child — education, health care, extracurricular activities and religious training — though the judge may give one parent sole power over certain decisions. Joint physical custody means the parents share physical custody so that the child has substantially equal time and contact with both.
Sole custody means a person, often but not always a parent, has been awarded permanent custody by court order. Unless the order says otherwise, that person makes the major decisions, and the noncustodial parent has visitation or parenting time. A parent exercising visitation is not the sole legal custodian during that time unless a court has awarded custody to that parent.
The remaining definitions support the deployment rules in § 19-9-3(i) and § 19-9-1. They define the armed forces (including the national guard and reserves), deployment, mobilization, military parent (a parent or guardian of a child under 18), deploying and nondeploying parent, state active duty, temporary duty, and military family care plan. Mobilization does not include annual training, drill weekends, inactive duty days or state active duty within Georgia. These definitions apply to Article 1 of Chapter 9. The section was last amended in 2024.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is joint legal custody in Georgia?
Joint legal custody means both parents have equal rights and responsibilities for major decisions about the child, including education, health care, extracurricular activities and religious training. The judge may still designate one parent to have sole power over certain decisions while the parents share the rest equally.
Does joint physical custody in Georgia mean a 50/50 schedule?
Not necessarily an exact split. Joint physical custody means physical custody is shared so that the child is assured substantially equal time and contact with both parents. That points toward a near-equal schedule, but the definition uses “substantially equal,” not a precise percentage.
Can a Georgia judge order joint legal custody but not joint physical custody?
Yes. Joint custody can mean joint legal custody, joint physical custody, or both, and the section expressly lets the judge order joint legal custody without ordering joint physical custody. Many orders give both parents equal say in major decisions while the child lives primarily with one parent.
What does sole custody mean in Georgia?
Sole custody means a person has been awarded permanent custody of the child by court order. Unless the order says otherwise, that person makes the major decisions about education, health care, extracurricular activities and religious training, and the noncustodial parent has the right to visitation or parenting time.
Does National Guard drill weekend count as deployment for custody in Georgia?
Not as a mobilization. Mobilization means calling up the national guard and reserves to extended active duty, and the definition expressly excludes annual training, inactive duty days, drill weekends and state active duty performed within Georgia. Deployment covers military orders to report, unaccompanied by family, for combat, contingency or peacekeeping operations, a remote tour, temporary duty or similar service.
Source & verification. Section text and amendment history are reproduced
verbatim from the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, enacted by the Georgia General Assembly, and
checked word for word against the Georgia Code Revision Commission’s public-domain edition and
the acts that later amended it. Section headings are the Code’s official catchlines.
Last verified October 9, 2026.
· Official source
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