Parenting Coordinators in Ontario: When Their Decisions Bind

You have a parenting plan or a court order, but you keep clashing over how to carry it out. Pick-up times, holiday swaps and small disagreements about the schedule can wear everyone down, and going back to court each time is slow and stressful.

A parenting coordinator is one option some families consider. This article explains what the role is, who pays, when a coordinator's decision is actually binding in Ontario, and how those decisions can be enforced. Many older orders and agreements still use the words custody and access. Those terms have been replaced by decision-making responsibility and parenting time, and this article uses the newer words.

What a parenting coordinator does

Justice Canada describes a parenting coordinator as a professional who helps parents follow their parenting plan. The parents pay for the service.

The usual legal basis for the role is a separation agreement, court order or arbitral award that provides for arbitration of future disputes about its ongoing management or implementation. How far a coordinator's role goes in your case depends on your agreement or order, so it is worth confirming with a lawyer. It is aimed at the day-to-day friction that comes up while you are carrying out arrangements you have already settled.

• Helping parents apply the schedule they already agreed to or were ordered to follow
• Giving parents a place to resolve disputes without a new court case each time
• Costing money, because the parents pay for the service

Whether a coordinator only helps you talk things through or can actually make a decision depends on what you signed. That is where the legal rules matter.

Why a coordinator's decision is only binding as an arbitration award

In Ontario, a binding decision by a third party on a family matter has legal effect only as a family arbitration award conducted exclusively under Ontario or other Canadian law. So a coordinator who is allowed to decide things is, in legal terms, acting as an arbitrator.

Justice Canada draws a useful line between roles. A mediator cannot make an order. An arbitrator decides only because both parents agree to that. If your agreement does not give the coordinator a decision-making power, the coordinator is closer to a helper than a decider.

Nothing in this article means a court can simply appoint a binding coordinator over a parent's objection. Whether that is possible is not something to assume, and a lawyer can tell you how it is treated in practice.

Secondary arbitration: the usual basis for coordination

Parenting coordination usually rests on what the Family Law Act calls secondary arbitration. A separation agreement, court order or arbitral award can provide for arbitration of future disputes about its ongoing management or implementation.

This differs from ordinary family arbitration, which has stricter conditions. The table compares the two.

Because the process can be built into your agreement or order, it can cover disputes that have not happened yet. That is the main practical difference. Since you may be agreeing to arbitrate before you know what the dispute will be, read that clause carefully and have a lawyer explain it before you sign.

Enforcing a coordinator's decision, and the limits

A party entitled to enforce a family arbitration award, including a parenting coordinator's arbitral decision, may apply to the Superior Court of Justice or the Family Court to enforce it.

Separately, a Divorce Act parenting order may direct the parties to attend a family dispute resolution process, subject to provincial law. Parties also have a duty to try to resolve matters through a family dispute resolution process where appropriate, and to protect the child from conflict arising from the case as far as they are able.

There is an important limit. A court may disregard a provision on a child's education, moral training, decision-making responsibility or parenting time if that is in the child's best interests. An agreed plan never binds the court on these issues. When a plan is included in a court order, the court must include the written parenting plan the parties agreed on, but it may change that plan if that is in the child's best interests.

• A coordinator's decision can be enforced through the courts if it is a valid arbitral award
• A mediator cannot make an order
• Agreed parenting terms can still be revisited by a court where the child's best interests require it

What to do next

Before agreeing to a parenting coordinator, think about what you actually want the person to do: only help you communicate, or make decisions you will both have to follow. The answer shapes the paperwork.

• Find your current agreement or order and see whether it already mentions arbitration or dispute resolution
• Decide whether you want a helper, a mediator or a decision-maker, because they are different roles
• Ask what the coordinator will cost, since the parents pay for the service
• Have a lawyer review any arbitration clause before you sign it
• Keep your parenting plan up to date, and show a draft to your own legal adviser before signing

Which rules apply can depend on whether you were married, and on exactly how your agreement is worded. A lawyer can confirm how this works for your situation.

Frequently asked questions