Family Law
Parenting Time, Decision-Making Responsibility, and Contact
Parenting Time and Decision-Making Responsibility
Parents who do not live together must make decisions about various things like where their child will live, how much time each of them will spend with their child or how much time a non-spouse (such as a grandparent, aunt, sibling) will spend with their child, how they will make decisions about their child’s welfare and upbringing, and what role each of them will play in caring for their child.
Parenting time is the right to spend time with a child and the child’s right to spend time with that parent. Parenting time also includes the right to ask for and be given information about a child’s health, education and welfare. Decision-Making Responsibility is the right to make the important decisions about the care and upbringing of a child (the child usually lives with the parent who has decision-making responsibility).
Contact
Contact refers to the arrangements can be given to other family members and, in certain situations, to non-family members who have a close relationship with the child. Contact arrangements can deal with both parenting time and parenting responsibility.
Parenting Time and Decision-Making Responsibility
Parenting time is the right to spend time with a child and the child’s right to spend time with that parent. Parenting time also includes the right to ask for and be given information about a child’s health, education and welfare. Decision-Making Responsibility is the right to make the important decisions about the care and upbringing of a child (the child usually lives with the parent who has decision-making responsibility).
Contact
Contact arrangements can also be given to other family members and, sometimes, to non-family members who have a close relationship with the child. Contact arrangements can deal with both parenting time and parenting responsibility.