McCormack Family Law | Top Divorce Lawyer | Child Custody & Support

In court, shared parenting refers to a legal relationship between divorced parents. Neither parent is designated as the sole residential parent and legal custodian. In other words, both parents retain custodial rights to children.

What are custodial rights? They are those rights created by the parent-child relationship, including such things as the right to make decisions regarding children’s upbringing and the right to interaction and possession. In everyday terms, custodial rights are rights to participate in important aspects of your child’s life, such as time spent together and decisions about schooling, religious participation, extracurricular activities, and so on.

Shared parenting means that you and your former spouse retain the ability to work out exactly how you will share parental rights and the responsibilities that go with them. A lot of people think shared parenting is a fifty-fifty proposition. But it’s not mathematical—it’s sensible. It doesn’t come down to parceling out hours and minutes in detail but to each parent taking on the responsibilities that make sense for each child’s life.
It does not have to be 50-50 in terms of time or number of responsibilities. It should simply make sense for your child.

The court expects to approve a very detailed, written shared parenting plan. The plan specifies what you will do jointly, as well as what each parent will do separately and how.

Do you have to have a written shared parenting plan? Yes; Ohio courts require it. Think of it as insurance. When parents agree and nothing changes over the years, it’s hardly necessary. But where there is strife, a plan helps parents consider the issues and provide workable solutions in a written document. That document becomes part of the court’s final order ending the marriage.

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