Making Decisions For The Children After Divorce

"In most circumstances, a judge will order "shared parental responsibility" for minor children when the parents separate or divorce. This means that both parents have a right to have full information about the children and to share in making major decisions for the children. Just because a child lives primarily with one parent does not give that parent greater say in the child's upbringing.

A judge may determine that one parent or the other should have the ultimate responsibility to make decisions in a particular area of a child's life, if the judge finds that it would be in the best interest of the child to do so.

If the parents, after good faith efforts, are unable to agree about a major decision affecting the child, (e.g., the parents cannot agree which private school the children should attend) the court, upon motion, may decide the issue, or designate the parent who will make that decision.

Sole parental responsibility may be awarded to one parent when shared parental responsibility would be detrimental to the child. Evidence of child or spousal abuse is a consideration and, depending upon the degree of abuse, may be a presumptive factor in determining whether shared or sole parental responsibility will be awarded. A court will also consider evidence that a person has provided false information in a domestic violence proceeding.

WHERE THE CHILDREN WILL LIVE AFTER DIVORCE
When parents separate or divorce it is important that both parents maintain contact with the children. Ordinarily, one parent will be designated the "primary residential parent" and the other parent will be designated the "secondary residential parent."  Alternate arrangements, including situations where one parent has sole custody or where neither parent is designated a primary residential parent (rotating custody), can be agreed to or ordered in specific circumstances.

Both parents are entitled to equal consideration as primary residential parents, notwithstanding the age or sex of the children.

After divorce, if a primary residential parent wants to move and the move would materially interfere with the other parent's contact with and access to the children, there are a series of statutory factors that a court will be required to consider before issuing an order that permits a parent to move with the children. It is possible that a parent will be denied permission to move with the children. This may occur if the other parent has been an involved parent, the move is not in the best interest of the children, and a substituted schedule of contact with the children may not be sufficient to maintain the secondary residential parent’s relationship with the children."

Reprinted from the Family Law Handbook by the FL Bar Assoc.