Can You Get 100% Sole or Full Custody In Pennsylvania Court?

Here’s everything you need to know about child custody in 2026. In this video, we’re going to cover what is the difference between legal and physical custody. Can you really get full custody of your kids? Did Pennsylvania’s custody laws just change? And what can be used against you in a custody battle? I’m Katie Galawas and I am a licensed attorney here in Pennsylvania and I practice family law.

I have represented hundreds of parents in everything from small custody hearings all the way to full custody trials. So, what a lot of people don’t understand is there’s actually two types of custody. The first being legal custody, which is all of the decision-making power that comes with having a child, where they go to school, what kind of foods they eat, down to the medical care that they receive.

What Is Physical Custody?

Physical custody is the actual time that you have with your child, holidays, vacations, and what that actual day-to-day schedule looks like. Legal custody is more often than not always going to remain equal, meaning both you and your co-parent have the equal ability to make these decisions for the child. Physical custody definitely has a little bit more variation in it.
Sometimes it comes down to what your work schedule is or what extracurriculars the kid is in. It really comes down to a lot of logistical reasons and trying to decide what is actually going to be best for that child as they’re growing up. 100% sole custody is incredibly rare. That doesn’t mean that you’re going to walk out with 50/50 custody every time.

Based on the different custody factors here in PA, we have 16 of them. Those 16 factors really look to see how custody is going to be divided and what’s going to be in the child’s best interest. So sometimes that means that the child is only with one parent on a few weekends a month or visit them for a couple of weeks in the summer.

The only time I’ve ever seen a parent get 100% sole custody was when the other parent was really suffering from addiction. When kids are unsafe, the court is going to take a close eye on that and really make sure that they are doing what’s best for the child. And sometimes that may be that the child is best off with only one parent, but that’s not to say that the other parent can’t ever come back and petition the court and show that they’ve really changed the circumstances in their lives and have a stable life for their child.

Custody Laws Have Changed In Pennsylvania

In Pennsylvania, the custody laws actually just changed back in 2024. They introduced something that is called Cadence Law. Essentially, they took a list of crimes or a list of factors that would indicate that there is the presumption that abuse is occurring within a home. That can be physical abuse, substance abuse, it even could just be another person is living in the home that has prior criminal convictions.

That does not necessarily mean that you’re going to lose custody of your child, but the court takes a much closer look as to whether or not there should be significant shared custody time, whether that custody time should be supervised just to assure that there is no risk to the child being in that home. >> Hey, I’m Justin jumping in to explain how domestic violence and criminal matters might intersect in a custody case.

If you are charged with a crime of domestic violence in a criminal case, you want to avoid convictions. Prosecutors often times will want to see some type of treatment or counseling that addresses some underlying issue that might have led to the incident from which the criminal charges stem in a protection from abuse matter. If there is a specific finding of abuse made by a judge, that is what could negatively affect your custody case. So, you want to avoid having a judge make that finding and there are ways to do that.

Common Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Custody Case
Now we’ll look at some mistakes that can hurt you when it comes to your custody battle. The number one thing that I see is people posting on social media. I tell people, keep it off social media because, as we know, none of that goes away.

And people like me come through and screenshot everything. Recently, I’ve seen a lot of people posting on Tik Toks. They do story times and they talk everything about their case. And it really can hurt them because one of the main custody factors when the judge looks at how they’re going to divide up custody is what the parents willingness to co-parent is and whether or not one parent is attempting to turn the child against the other parent.

A big issue nowadays is the text that you send your co-parent. Again, nothing that you send can really be deleted. So, there is a big risk that when you send threatening messages or say you’re going to withhold the kids, they very easily can get pulled and showed to the judge. A lot of people will try to badmouth their co-parent. Even after your child turns 18, you still have to be in the same room as them.

You still have to go to their graduation and their wedding and potentially have grandkids. and having a very hostile and contentious relationship with them is not only going to hurt potentially your custody case, but also just make your life harder as life goes on. >> Justin here again jumping in to chat briefly about the legality of recording your ex as a felony under the Pennsylvania Wiretap Act.

And for that reason, if you’re attempting to present those types of recordings as evidence in your custody case, judge is not going to allow those recordings to be admitted as evidence because they were obtained unlawfully. >> In Pennsylvania, we have two different offices that handle support versus custody.

And I always remind people, they are completely separate. Just because you pay support does not mean you inherently get to see your kids. And in the reverse, just because you’re not getting your kids, does not mean that you automatically get to stop paying support. If you try to withhold the kids to force the other parent to pay, it’s probably going to backfire on you, and you’re going to end up back in court and back before a judge because they don’t look too kindly on people when they make the entire situation about money.

Part of every custody order in Pennsylvania, we have the relocation notice. So before you want to move, you are required to give the other parent written notice. so far in advance and then that parent has the opportunity to respond, meaning they have the opportunity to say, “No, I don’t want you to move.

I want to be able to see my kid.” We have a 50/50 custody schedule. How does that look when you’re 10 hours away? I’ve seen it many times when parents try and go and move without permission or they try to get sneaky with it. The court has the ability to make you come back. A lot of people get very upset. Why can my ex control where I’m living, what I’m doing? Yes, it’s your life, but you share a child with someone and the other parent just as much of a right to see them as you do.

And if you guys can’t reach an agreement, the judge will be the one that makes the final determination. One of the myths that I often hear is that the mother always wins in a custody battle. That actually couldn’t be further from the truth in my experience, especially in recent years. the court has moved much more towards the equal shared custody or 6040% custody.

The court’s going to look and see what is in the child’s best interest and also what is feasible for you guys. So if you work long hours and get up for work at 3:00 in the morning, it doesn’t matter who you are, it’s going to be very difficult to have the kids overnight. So if you or someone you know are going through a custody battle, I always recommend that you reach out to an attorney.

Sometimes all it takes is having that objective person look at the case and help guide you through it. When it’s something as personal as this, you want to make sure that you have someone that’s going to be on your side. Here at Sebald, Hackwelder & Knox, we are always happy to talk with you. We offer completely free consultations and it’s always good to get a second opinion on a court case before you go in there.

At Sebald, Hackwelder & Knox, we handle everything from custody, criminal law, real estate, DUIs, personal injury, everything under the sun. So don’t hesitate to give us a call and we are always happy to help!