What is "custody"?

In Ontario family law, the word is generally used in reference to decision-making about a child or children.
In general terms, a parent who has sole custody of the child makes, on their own, all major decisions about that child’s health, welfare and education. Parents who are joint custodians make such decisions together. There is also the concept of "parallel parenting" which I will address in a future post.

Please note that a child’s custodial parent may be different from that child’s residential parent. “Residence” refers to where the child lives. For example, the parents of a child may be that child’s joint custodians but the child may live primarily with Dad.

The use of the phrase “shared custody” in the Child Support Guidelines (both federally and provincially) has caused some confusion. In the Guidelines, the term refers to a situation where the child essentially has two homes and spends some time with one parent and the rest of the time with the other. In this particular instance, the word “custody” is used to denote the child’s residential arrangements but this is an exception to the general rule outlined above with respect to the use of these phrases.