One responsibility that parents have is to make important decisions for their children. They choose where the child will go to school or what religion they’ll be part of. They may choose a daycare or select a babysitter. They may deal with financial accounts, such as investing on the child’s behalf, or they may have to make healthcare decisions about what treatments the child should receive.
During marriage, both parents will likely do this together, but what happens after a divorce? Do both parents still get a choice to make all these crucial decisions together, or can one parent just make a decision and override the other person’s wishes?
How was legal custody divided?
The key thing to look at is simply how the court divided legal custody during the divorce process. With shared custody, parents do have to cooperate. One parent can’t make the decision to take the child out of school or take them in for medical treatment if the other parent is opposed.
But in some cases, even when physical custody is shared, the court will order that only one parent has sole legal custody. If that’s how the arrangement was created, then that parent does not have to ask their ex for permission or input. They can simply make the decisions that they wish, focusing on their child’s best interests.
As such, the details of the specific child custody arrangement are incredibly important. Parents sometimes find themselves in conflict over what decisions to make, and they need to understand all of their legal options at this time.