What is Shared Parenting?
Shared parenting requires parents to confer with each other when making major decisions that affect the health, safety and welfare of the child. It does not mean 50/50 custody as the term itself might imply. In fact, it has nothing whatsoever to do with where a child lives or the amount of time the child spends with one parent or the other3 . Shared parenting only means that both parents have to confer with each other when making major decisions affecting the welfare of their children and that both parents retain full parental rights and responsibilities. In short, just because parents are breaking up or divorcing each other, it does not mean that they are divorcing their children.
There are two ways for a court to allocate parental rights and responsibilities (custody) of minor children. One way is for one parent to be designated as the residential (custodial) parent, and for the other parent to be designated as the non-residential (non-custodial) parent. Another way is for the court to order shared parenting where both parents may be designated as the residential (custodial) parent. If one parent is designated as the residential parent and shared parenting is not ordered, each parent’s rights are determined by Ohio law. The residential parent will be the parent who is entitled to make important decisions on behalf of the minor children such as decisions regarding medical treatment, education, religion, extra-curricular activities and other decisions where parental consent is required. The non-residential parent will generally be entitled to parenting time (visitation) with the children according to a set schedule, and the non-residential parent will also be ent
“Shared parenting is the term Ohio uses for what is sometimes commonly known as “joint custody.” The court may allocate the parental rights and responsibilities for the care of the children to both parents and issue a shared parenting order requiring the parents to share all or some of the aspects of the physical and legal care of the children in accordance with the approved plan for shared parenting. It does not necessarily mean an equal, 50/50 division of time with the children, child support or any other of the issues dealing with the children.
