When your parents live together, they are both responsible for taking care of you. When your parents stop living together, this might change.
For example, if your parents need to agree on where you will live or when you will spend time with each parent. If they can’t agree, then the court will ask a Mediator to help them sort it out. If they still don’t agree, a court Magistrate or Judge may decide. The court can order “shared,” “allocated,” or “sole” parental rights and responsibilities.
The judge can also order “shared primary residence” or “primary residence.”
If one parent has primary residence, the other parent usually has “parent-child contact” or “parenting time.” There are lots of different ways to arrange how you spend time with your other parent. It might be for a few hours a week, a few days a week, just weekends, during school vacations or another schedule that fits your family. If the parent lives far away, the plan can also include keeping in touch in other ways, like phone calls, e-mails, letters and online meetings. The times may be very specific—spelling out hours and days for visits—or very general and flexible.
Here are some things that a Judge will consider when making decisions about “parental rights and responsibilities:”
Want to learn more about the law? Pine Tree Legal posts more detailed information about the legal aspects of Divorce and Parental Rights.