There are many difficult types of legal terms that are used during a child guardianship case. Understanding these difficult terms becomes daunting for a person with no legal knowledge, especially in the middle of an emotional family law case.
The legal terms that are used in child guardianship cases are very difficult to understand for laymen. Just like many others, you might just have the general idea of what child guardianship or decision-making means but might not know the difference between the various types of child parenting.
Also Read: Different Types Of Child Parenting Arrangements In Canadian Family Law
To understand child guardianship terminology, you will need to hire a professional child guardianship lawyer who will help you get through this difficult process.
How does joint parenting work? Which type of guardianship is better for your particular situation? You will need to have some knowledge to answer these questions and will also need a certified child guardianship lawyer by your side to help you sail through this emotional ride.
In this blog post, we will define some of the frequently used child parenting terms often used in cases so after reading this blog you will be able to gain a better understanding of what options are available for you and your child as you move through the child parenting case.
Physical Decision-Making
This is one of the most easily understood types of child guardianship. If the court has given physical decision-making to a parent then that parent has been given the right to live with the child.
In some provinces, the courts will sometimes give joint physical child parenting rights. What this means is that the child will be able to stay with both the father and the mother for defined periods of time.
But this joint physical guardianship is only awarded when the parents of the child are living extremely close to each other.
Because if the parents live far apart from each other then the strain on the child may play an important role in awarding the sole physical guardianship to one of the parents.
Sole parenting is the term used in child guardianship cases when the child lives primarily with only one parent and the other gets limited visitation or parenting rights.
For instance, if a father is awarded the sole physical guardianship of a child then the child will spend every day living with him and will only get to visit the mother for a few hours at a time.
So in order to get sole or joint physical guardianship of your child, you will need to hire a professional child guardianship lawyer who will help you win your child’s decision-making case.
Legal Guardianship
When the legal guardianship of a child is awarded to a parent, then that means that now the parent has the legal authority to make decisions about the child’s health, upbringing, and education.
The parent who wins the legal decision-making of the child will have the legal authority to decide which religion the child will practice, which school the child will go to and what type of medical care the child will receive.
There are many provinces that will award joint legal guardianship after a divorce. This means that now both parents will need to cooperate and make joint decisions regarding their child’s upbringing.
The court will only award joint legal parenting so that both parents are given the right to make decisions for the better upbringing of their child.
But if one parent begins to make decisions that start to take away the decision-making power from the other parent then the other parent will have the right to go back to the court and ask the judge to enforce the joint legal guardianship order.
So if you are awarded joint legal guardianship and you feel that your partner is not letting you make decisions about your child’s upbringing then you should talk to your child decision-making lawyer and take this matter up in court.
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