The best parenting plans are boring. They answer the ordinary questions in advance so that nobody has to negotiate them in a bad moment.
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Ontario and the federal Divorce Act no longer speak of custody and access. The terms are now decision-making responsibility — who decides about health, education and religion — and parenting time, which is when the child is in each parent's care.
This is not cosmetic. The old words carried a winner-and-loser implication that the current framework deliberately drops. Older agreements and older advice still use them, which causes real confusion.
The governing test has not changed: every decision is measured against the best interests of the child, and the Children's Law Reform Act sets out the factors that go into it.
A regular schedule is the easy part. What separates a plan that works from one that generates arguments is the detail around the edges — holidays and how they rotate, birthdays, professional development days, what happens when a child is ill, how and when the parents communicate, and how each is kept informed by the school.
Two provisions are worth deliberate thought. The first is how disputes get resolved — a defined step, such as mediation, before anyone files anything. The second is relocation.
If a parent plans to move with a child in a way that affects the other's parenting time, notice is required — and there are statutory minimums under both the Divorce Act and the Children's Law Reform Act.
Parenting plans that leave the notice period as a blank to be filled in are common, and they mislead: parents write in a shorter period and assume it governs. It does not override the statutory floor.
Not in current Ontario and federal legislation. The terms are decision-making responsibility and parenting time. Older documents still use custody and access.
The best interests of the child. The Children's Law Reform Act lists the factors, including the child's needs, the relationship with each parent, and each parent's willingness to support the other's relationship with the child.
No. Most parenting arrangements are settled by agreement, often with mediation. Court is for what cannot be agreed.
Yes. Parenting terms are always open to revisiting on a material change, because the measure is the child's interests and children's needs change.
Relocation triggers notice requirements with statutory minimum periods. Do not rely on a shorter period written into a plan without advice.
Government sources for this topic. Rules change — confirm the current position before you rely on it.
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