Key Takeaway
Being mindful of your parental responsibilities now will guide you in making thoughtful decisions that impact your children's wellbeing.
Parents going through a separation have the duty to:
- Act in best interests of the child
- Protect the child from conflict
- Try to resolve your separation without going to court. This may not be appropriate in cases of family violence or serious power imbalances.
- Provide complete and up to date information to each other
- Follow agreements and orders
Parents generally have responsibilities regarding raising their children. Depending on the law you are using, they might be called parenting responsibilities or decision making responsibilities. These include:
- Making decisions about day-today care of the children
- Daily tasks of taking care of and supervising children
- Making bigger decisions such as where the children live, go to school, and whether they attend religious events
- Who can receive information from teachers and medical providers
You can make agreements with the other parent or seek court orders about how you will make parenting decisions. You may decide that:
- You will share all decision making together,
- Split the tasks between you, or
- It is in the child’s best interest to give all decision making or parenting responsibilities to one parent.
See Co-parenting & Parallel parenting, Parenting Agreements and Orders and Best Interests of the Child.
Remember
While the Divorce Act is the same across Canada, provinces and territories have their own family laws that may impact you. See Getting Help for information about the laws relevant to you.
See the federal government’s Parenting Plan Checklist and Parenting Plan Tool.