The North Carolina Certified Paralegal Examination (NCCP) Practice Exam

Legal custody primarily refers to the right and responsibility of a parent to make significant decisions regarding a child's upbringing. This includes decisions about education, healthcare, religion, and other important aspects of the child's life. When a parent has legal custody, they are legally authorized to make these major life choices without needing to seek the other parent's consent, although joint legal custody can also exist where both parents share this decision-making authority.

While shared custody arrangements can exist, they do not directly relate to the core definition of legal custody. Restricting visitation rights pertains more to physical custody arrangements rather than legal custody. Joint decision-making can also occur under a legal custody arrangement, but it does not encompass the full scope of authority that legal custody provides to the custodial parent. Therefore, the correct answer accurately reflects the essence of what legal custody enables a parent to do.