Open main menu

Clicklaw Wikibooks β

Changes

Changing decision-making responsibilities and parental responsibilities
*one parent will be solely responsible for all decisions.
The decisions that are included in ''decision-making responsibilities'' under the ''Divorce Act'' are listed in section 2(1) of the act, in the definition of "decision-making responsibilities." The list is short, compared to the decisions that are included in ''parental responsibilities'' under the ''Family Law Act'', however , the list isn't exhaustive and other kinds of decisions, like those listed in the ''Family Law Act'', can be included as decision-making responsibilities under the ''Divorce Act''. The decisions that are included in ''parental responsibilities'' under the ''Family Law Act'' are listed in section 41 of the act. Changes may need to be made to orders, awards or agreements about decision-making responsibilities and parental responsibilities if those arrangements are no longer working as well as they should. This might happen because: *parents have fundamentally different ideas about important issues, like healthcare and schooling, and are not going to be able to agree on the decisions that are in the best interests of their children,*parents cannot stop arguing about decisions affecting their children, so that decisions are made late or never made at all,*parents are constantly going to mediation, arbitration or court to resolve disagreements about decisions affecting their children, or*the conflict between the parents about making decisions is affecting the wellbeing of their children. The ''Divorce Act'' and the ''Family Law Act'' allow parents to  
The ''[[Family Law Act]]'' provides a test to vary orders about parental responsibilities and a test to set aside agreements about parental responsibilities. Section 44(4) talks about agreements: