What Are Your Parental Rights Under the Divorce Act?

Going through a divorce means your romantic relationship with a partner is ending, but if you have children, it is not ending the relationship you have with them. It can be really difficult, emotionally and financially, to go through a divorce but you want to make sure you still get to spend time with your children and watch them grow up. Here is what you need to know about your parental rights under the Divorce Act.

Custody arrangements

Part of the divorce proceedings will involve setting up a custody arrangement for your children.

You will work with your lawyer and your spouse’s lawyer to determine what the best option is for custody of your children.

Related: Online Child Support Calculator – Ontario

What happens if you disagree with the arrangements?

If you and your spouse cannot determine fair access or custody of your children, you may have to go to court to determine what the arrangement will be. As long as there isn’t any abuse or documented reasons why you should not have fair custody of your children then you will have a good chance in court.

The court will always take the best interests of your children into account when determining custody, and they may look at what kind of schedule will work best for the children considering their schooling and other activities.

Honouring the commitment

Whatever the custody arrangement is, as determined in your divorce proceedings, each parent will be responsible for upholding it and following through with it.

One parent may not agree completely with the decision, but each side will have to abide by the ruling. If they disagree with it, they will need to talk to their family lawyer to try to make a change.

Dispute resolution process

Co-parenting can be challenging, even for the most amicable of divorces. Eventually parents will disagree on how to raise their children or how to best approach an issue that comes up with their children.

The Divorce Act strongly encourages families to try to resolve their issues through the dispute resolution process and stay out of the court room if possible. This can save thousands in legal fees and help you reach a resolution much sooner than you would if you have to wait for a court date.

Parents know their children best, so they are going to be in the best place to make decisions about their children.

Decision making responsibility

Even if you share custody of your children with your former spouse, the parenting plan may give decision making responsibility to one parent over the other. This means that the parent with this responsibility will be able to make decisions regarding the child(ren)’s education, health care, language spoken, religious affiliations, and even some significant extra-curricular activities (if they are involved in them).

The parent with this responsibility may discuss them with the other parent, however ultimately the other parent will have no final say if they cannot come to an agreement.

Contact Fine and Associates today

Going through a divorce can be really difficult, especially when there are children involved. You want to spend as much time with your children as possible, even if you and your former spouse are no longer involved. If you have questions about your rights as a parent, make sure to contact us today to speak with a family lawyer to make sure your rights are protected.