Meaning & use
noncustodial parent
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Meaning
nouncountablelegal
The mother or father who does not have the main legal responsibility for living with and raising a child after a separation or divorce.
Grammar: Countable: each parent can be named as custodial or noncustodial.
Patterns
- the noncustodial parent of someone
- a noncustodial parent who pays something
As the noncustodial parent, he sees his daughter every second weekend.
The court ordered the noncustodial parent to pay monthly child support.
A noncustodial parent may still attend school meetings and medical appointments.
Word forms
| plural | noncustodial parents |
|---|
Common combinations
- pay child support as a noncustodial parent
- As a noncustodial parent, she sends support every month.
- the other noncustodial parent
- The school contacted the noncustodial parent about the trip.
- visitation rights of the noncustodial parent
- The visitation rights of the noncustodial parent are set by the judge.
- a noncustodial parent's rights
- A noncustodial parent's rights include regular contact.
Synonyms and how they differ
- non-resident parent
- This is the usual British phrase and is neutral in tone, whereas noncustodial parent belongs more to American courts.
- absent parent
- It suggests the parent is not involved at all, so it can sound critical where noncustodial parent only describes a legal arrangement.
- visiting parent
- It is an informal description of how contact works in practice rather than a formal legal status.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: noncustodial parent or guardian?
noncustodial parent vs guardian
A guardian is a person other than a parent who is legally responsible for a child, whereas a noncustodial parent is still the child's parent.
Practice
After the divorce, the children lived with their mother, and their father became the ____ parent.
Choose one answer.
The father does not have main care of the children, so he is the noncustodial parent. Custodial describes the mother, and foster or adoptive describe different relationships.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “noncustodial parent”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.