Parents preparing for divorce often have many questions about shared custody. While every aspect of ending a marriage can prompt anxiety, changes to the parent-child relationship can be among the most stressful aspects of any Louisiana divorce.
Parents often worry primarily about how much time they can spend with their children and how they can communicate with them while they are in the care of the other parent. Parents frequently fail to consider the importance of legal decision-making authority, sometimes referred to as legal custody, as they begin negotiating with one another.
They may then find themselves disagreeing intensely about matters related to medical care, religious observances or school enrollment. Which parent typically has the authority to make decisions regarding the upbringing of the children in a shared custody scenario?
Shared authority is a common solution
Parents with shared custody don’t just split the time they spend with their children. They also typically share legal responsibility for their children, which includes the need to make important decisions on their behalf.
When parents share legal custody, they frequently need to make joint decisions about matters with long-term implications. If one parent wants to move the children to a different school district, for example, both parents likely need to agree on that critical decision.
Shared legal custody generally empowers both parents to make certain choices during their time with the children. The parent who has a child overnight on any given day can decide whether they can attend a sleepover with a friend, for example.
Any decisions that have long-term implications, such as signing up for extracurricular activities, may require an agreement between the parents. In high-conflict scenarios or cases where one parent has far more time with the children than the other, the custody order may give one parent the authority to make decisions when the parents do not agree on what is necessary or appropriate.
Other times, parents may need to go back to family court to settle their disputes about major decisions. Judges can make determinations about individual choices based on what they believe is in the best interest of the children.
They also have the authority to modify the custody order to grant more decision-making authority to one parent. In cases where a parent makes major decisions but does not do so in accordance with the custody order, they could hold one parent in contempt of court for violating the custody order.
Learning more about the law as it applies in a shared custody scenario can help parents avoid custody violations and recognize when legal action might be necessary to enforce a custody order, modify the order or resolve a dispute about an important parenting decision.