Child Custody and Access

with Ritu Horra

Transcript from Child Custody and Access Video

Please note: The script may not be exactly what is spoken, but contains the same information as presented in the video.

Hello. My name is Ritu Horra and I am a lawyer with the Feldstein Family Group. Today I am going to talk about child custody and access. I am going to review the different types of child custody and discuss access.

When two people have a child together, each parent has an equal right and responsibility to take part in the upbringing of the child. The equal right to make decisions about their child’s care and how their child is raised exists whether or not the parents are married.

Typically in two-parent, intact families, parents share the decision-making authority. When parents separate, however, they must arrange how they will share or divide their respective parenting rights and responsibilities. In other words, separating parents must make arrangements for child custody and access.

What is custody?

Custody is the right to make the important decisions about the care and upbringing of a child. Custody includes the right to make decisions regarding the child’s religion, school and educational programs, and medical treatment.

Different types of custody include sole custody, joint custody, shared custody and spilt custody:

Sole Custody:

This is where one person has the responsibility and legal authority to unilaterally make major decisions about the child’s care and how they will be raised. Most commonly, the child lives primarily with the person who has sole custody.

The decision making authority is often only vested in one person where, there is some parental conflict, concerns of abuse, violence, drug or alcohol abuse, mental illness or poor judgment as the custodial arrangement helps mitigate concerns or limit risks in the life of the child.

Joint Custody:

Where separated parents are in agreement on major issues affecting the life of their child and have little or no concern for the judgment of each other, they can opt for joint custody. Under this custody arrangement, both parents legally have an equal say as to major decisions affecting their child. Under this custody regime, it is assumed that they can reach decisions either by consensus or by one acquiescing to the judgment of the other.

Typically joint custody works best where there are low levels of conflict between the parents or even in moderate conflict but where the parents can resolve disputes maturely.

Shared Custody:

Unlike the other custodial arrangements, shared custody has to do with the amount of time the child spends with each parent for the purpose of determining each parent’s respective child support obligation. Under the Child Support Guidelines, shared custody occurs where a child lives at least 40% of the time with each parent. The 40% time can be comprised of weekends, overnights, and parts of vacations.

Split Custody:

Another type of custody arrangement is split custody. Although not very common, parents who have split custody have more than one child together and each parent has one or more child living primarily with him or her.

What is Access?

When one parent is awarded custody of the children, the other parent is normally granted the right of access (visitation). Access visits can either be unsupervised or supervised, depending on what is felt to be in the best interests of the child.

Commonly access is unsupervised. This is where the child goes to visit the parent, and no-one else needs to be present while the child and parent are spending time together.

A typical access schedule involves the child spending alternate weekends and one or two nights per week with the parent not having primary care and control. Typically, the access parent will also share holidays, including statutory holidays (i.e. long weekends), Christmas school break, March break, Easter and summer holidays.

Conclusion: That’s all for today. Thank you for taking the time to watch this video. I hope that I have answered some of your questions about child custody and access in the Province of Ontario. You can also find more information on our website at feldsteinfamilylaw.com.