Custody (now legal decision-making) Attorney in Mesa

A Collaborative Approach to an Emotional Matter

Most people are very familiar with the term “custody” when describing the legal relationship with their children. With the many changes over the past few years, people often get the terms “custody” and “parenting time” confused.  Parenting time is just that – the time each parent spends with their children.  Custody is now referred to as legal decision-making in the State of Arizona.  Legal decision-making refers to the legal authority each parent has in making decisions regarding their children.  It has nothing to do with the actual time spent with your child.  The areas that legal decision-making covers are related to medical/dental decisions, educational decisions, religious decisions and personal care decisions.  Parents will be awarded either sole legal decision-making authority or joint legal decision-making authority over their children.

When one parent has sole legal decision-making authority, it means (among other things) that that parent has the legal authority to decide what school the child will attend, what medical and dental care the child may receive, what religion the child will practice and what personal care choices the child may enjoy.  The parent who has sole legal decision making-authority has no requirement to obtain the other parent’s advice, approval, permission or authority before making these decisions.  An award of sole legal-decision making has become somewhat rare these days with the new statutes and cases that have been decided in Arizona.  Consequently, joint legal-decision making has become the norm rather than the exception.

Joint legal decision-making requires the parents to discuss and agree before any such decision is made for their child.  In the event the parties do not agree, then oftentimes they are required to attend mediation to assist them in coming to an agreement before any legal action may be initiated.  Joint legal decision-making is the preferred legal authority as it gives both parents the legal right to (1) know what is going on with their child; and (2) to participate as an equal parent in decisions made for and on behalf of their child.  Neither parent may be preferred over the other when the parties have joint legal decision-making authority.

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