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What do all these words mean - custody, guardianship, access?
When a family is living together, the parents share both custody and guardianship of their children.
That means the parents together are responsible for providing food, shelter and clothing, for making decisions about how the
children will be brought up, and for managing any money or property the children may own. Once they separate, however, the responsibilities
may be carried out by just one parent or shared between the parents.
Custody, guardianship and access are legal terms used to describe different parenting arrangements.
Custody
After separation or divorce, the parent who has "custody" is the parent who lives with the children and provides daily
care. Custody can, however, also be "joint" or "shared." Joint or shared custody can mean a number of different
arrangements, including an arrangement where the children live part of the time with one parent and part of the time with the
other parent.
Guardianship
"Guardianship" is the responsibility for making major decisions about such things as what kind of education, health
care or religious training the children will receive, and how to manage anything the children may own, such as property or money.
Like custody, guardianship can be handled by one parent only, or shared between the parents - which means that both parents will
remain involved in making important decisions about the children's future.
Access
"Access" refers to the time the children spend with the parent who does not have custody. When a child lives with one
parent full-time, the other parent usually has access.
Access arrangements, like custody and guardianship, come in many forms. You can decide on "reasonable and generous access,"
which leaves it up to the two of you to arrange the time the children will spend with the parent who does not have custody, or
you can be specific, stating when and for how long the children will be with their other parent. This is known as "specified
access."
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