Arizona Legal Decision Making…Making decisions for the children.
After a split, potential clients almost always want “sole custody.” In Arizona, “custody ” refers to what we know as “legal decision-making.” Legal decision-making is the ability to make MAJOR decisions for the children.
Let’s define “major.” Major decisions – school district, whether a child gets a passport, if a child gets braces at 8 years-old or do they wait until they are 13 years-old. Unless we are talking about a special needs child, major decisions are pretty limited. Perhaps that is why the “best interest factors” focus heavily on the parties working together. The parties typically are awarded joint legal decision making (they must work together), unless a party has some serious concerns.
In the event that the other party has final decision-making authority, or sole legal decision-making, it is not the end of the world. Legal decision-making does not allow one party to tell the other party when they can see the child (this is called, “parenting time”). Regardless of legal decision-making, both parties should see the children as often as is reasonably prudent.
Got Questions? We have answers. Contact us.
