Ontario family law · 2026
Decision-making responsibility — what 'custody' became, and why it matters.
In 2021, Ontario family law replaced the word 'custody' with 'decision-making responsibility' — authority over health, education, religion, and other major matters in your kids' lives. Many parenting plans split it category by category rather than as a single blanket grant. Free guide, free calculator, no signup.
Decisions, not where the kids sleep
Authority over health, education, religion, and major life decisions — separate from the parenting-time schedule.
Independent of parenting time
You can have substantial parenting time and no decision-making authority, or the other way around. They are decided on different facts.
Category by category vs. blanket
Joint medical, sole on education, a mediator-first tie-breaker — many well-structured plans specify authority per category rather than as a vague 'joint custody' grant.
Most fathers walk into a separation thinking 'custody' is one thing you either have or do not. It is not. It is a bundle of separate authorities — medical care, schooling, religion, big extracurriculars, travel — that can be split, structured, and given a clear tie-breaker for disagreements. Understanding the categories is useful general background.
Decision-making responsibility is the authority to make the significant decisions about a child's life. Day-to-day care decisions (what they eat, what time they go to bed when they are with you) stay with whichever parent has the child at the time. The 2021 amendments swapped 'custody' for 'decision-making responsibility' to reflect this — it is about decisions, not about who 'has' the child.
Joint decision-making is the most common arrangement when the parents can communicate and have a history of consulting each other. Sole decision-making to one parent is more common when communication has broken down. The most practical pattern in many cases is category by category: joint for some categories (medical, education) and sole for others (religion), with a clear tie-breaker for the joint ones.
Joint or sole — the underlying question
The question a court asks is whether you and the other parent can communicate well enough to make joint decisions on the categories where joint authority is being claimed. The answer comes from history: how decisions were made during the relationship, how they have been made since separation, and what the pattern of communication looks like in emails, texts, and conduct.
Joint authority needs more than co-parenting in good faith. It needs the practical ability to put the child's interests first when you disagree. If history shows a pattern of obstruction, unilateral decisions, or refusal to engage with the other parent's input, sole authority on those categories becomes more likely.
The categories most contested
Education — choice of school (public, separate, private), choice of program (French immersion, IB), special-needs accommodations, post-secondary direction. Sole authority is more often awarded here when one parent has been primary on education during the relationship.
Medical — choice of family doctor, treatment decisions for anything beyond routine, mental health and counselling, vaccinations. Most courts default to joint authority unless there is a track record of one parent obstructing care.
Religion — choice of faith tradition, religious education, participation in services and rituals. Often kept on a sole-authority track for whichever parent has been the primary religious caregiver, with the other parent free to follow their own practice when the kids are with them.
Big extracurricular activities — competitive sports, music lessons, summer camps. Often joint with a tie-breaker, because both parents share the cost based on income.
Tie-breakers that work
A parenting plan with no tie-breaker sends every disagreement back to court. A good plan includes one. Common patterns that hold up:
Mediator-first — the parents have to try a named mediator (or someone from a roster) before either can apply to court. Most disputes resolve here.
Professional consultation — the child's family doctor, paediatrician, or school principal is consulted on the relevant decision, and their recommendation is the default unless both parents agree to do something different.
Sole-authority designation — one parent has the final word in a defined category if mediation fails. The other parent's input is required (consultation), but not their agreement.
Hybrid — joint authority, but with a six-month review. If a pattern of unilateral decisions or obstruction appears, the agreement automatically converts that category to sole authority.
Drafting the decision-making clause
- List the categories explicitly — medical, education, religion, big extracurriculars, travel
- For each category, say whether it is joint, sole (and to whom), or a hybrid
- Write the tie-breaker for every joint category
- Spell out the consultation requirement when one parent has sole authority
- How the parents communicate about decisions — which app, which channel
- An emergency clause — who decides when there is no time to consult the other parent
- A review trigger — when the structure gets revisited
The clause lives inside a written separation agreement. Here is what it generally includes.
- The categories spelled out — medical, education, religion, big extracurriculars, travel
- Joint, sole, or hybrid per category, with a tie-breaker for the joint ones
- Consultation requirements for the sole-authority categories
- Emergency and review-trigger clauses
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Reviewed May 12, 2026 · Plain-language information for Ontario.
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Related guides & tools
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The same test governs decision-making and parenting time. The factors in plain language.
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What kind of change in the family lets you ask a court to revisit a decision-making arrangement.
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What used to be called 'access.' The 40% line and how it interacts with support.
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Where the parenting plan and decision-making clause live.
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Decision-making does not change support — parenting time does. See both sides of the 40% line.
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