What is decision-making responsibility?
Decision-making responsibility is the right to make important decisions about how to care for and raise a child. It includes the right to make decisions about a child’s education, health care, religion, and important extracurricular activities.
Decision-making responsibility used to be called custody.
Decision-making responsibility is not about who your child lives with. It is also not about how much time your child spends with each parent.
Decision-making responsibility can be divided in a few ways:
- One parent has all the decision-making responsibility.
- Parents share decision-making responsibility and need to agree on important decisions.
- Parents have decision-making responsibility for different things. For example, one parent may have decision-making responsibility for education and another parent for health care.
Sharing decision-making responsibility can work well if parents can communicate and work together. If your partner is abusive or controlling, they might want to share decision-making responsibility so they can use it to try and control you. You do not have to agree to this.
If you have all the decision-making responsibility for your children, your partner usually has the right to ask for, and get, information about their children’s health, education, and well-being.
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