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→Parental responsibilities and decision-making responsibility
=====Sharing some responsibilities=====
Where parents generally work well together, but have different parenting philosophies and different hopes and expectations for the children, it may be better that only one parent has responsibility for making decisions about certain subjects while both parents continue to share responsibility for other subjects. In general, the subjects that are assigned to one parent tend to be big, all-or-nothing subjects where compromise is difficult if not impossible, such as decisions about the child's:
*religious instruction, particularly when parents have very different religious beliefs,
*healthcare, particularly when parents have different views about the efficacy of traditional medicine or their views about medicine are influenced by religion, and
*education, particularly where parents have different views about the efficacy of the public school system or concerns about the curriculum.
During COVID-19, for example, the courts were very busy dealing with applications about whether children should or should not be vaccinated and must or must not wear masks. Where parents disagree about issues like these, it's often the case that no dispute resolution process will help them see eye to eye.
A common set of clauses sharing some but not all parental responsibilities under the ''Family Law Act'' might look like this:
<blockquote><tt>The parties will share all parental responsibilities with respect to the child, except for decisions concerning the education of the child and the child's participation in extracurricular activities. Except in emergencies, the parties must consult each other before making significant shared decisions affecting the child.</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><tt>Guardian A will be solely responsible for making decisions concerning the education of the child. In the event that Guardian B disagrees with a decision made by Guardian A, Guardian B may apply to court for directions or an order about the decision under section 49 of the ''Family Law Act''.</tt></blockquote>
<blockquote><tt>Guardian B will be solely responsible for making decisions concerning the child's participation in extracurricular activities. In the event that Guardian A disagrees with a decision made by Guardian B, Guardian A may apply to court for directions or an order about the decision under section 49 of the ''Family Law Act''.</tt></blockquote>
This example is just an example. There is no requirement that if one parent gets sole responsibility for one kind of decision that the other parent automatically gets sole responsibility for another kind of decision. Depending on the issues and the circumstances, it could certainly be the case that just one parent winds up with sole responsibility for all hotly-contested decisions.
=====Sharing no responsibilities=====
=====Joint custody=====