👨👩👧 Parenting Time & Decision-Making: What Ontario Courts Actually Look At
👨👩👧 Parenting Time & Decision-Making: What Ontario Courts Actually Look At
Category: Ontario Family Law | Parenting
Last Updated: August 2026
Reading Time: Approx. 11 minutes
By: CanBridge Law
When parents separate, they often arrive at the lawyer's office using words such as “custody,” “access,” “50/50” and “sole custody.”
The emotional question is usually: “Who gets the children?”
Ontario law asks a different question: What arrangement is in the child's best interests?
Ontario Now Uses Different Legal Terms
For current Ontario family-law matters, the modern terms are generally decision-making responsibility and parenting time.
Decision-making responsibility concerns significant decisions about the child's well-being, including health, education, culture, language, religion, spirituality and significant extracurricular activities.
Parenting time refers to the periods when the child is in a person's care.
There Is No Automatic Rule That One Parent “Wins”
Ontario's Children's Law Reform Act requires courts to determine parenting issues based on the child's best interests and to give primary consideration to the child's physical, emotional and psychological safety, security and well-being.
The law does not create a presumption that mothers, fathers, stay-at-home parents or higher-income parents automatically receive decision-making responsibility.
What Factors Does the Court Consider?
The legislation directs the court to consider all circumstances of the child, including:
- the child's age and developmental needs;
- the child's need for stability;
- the strength of the child's relationship with each parent and important family members;
- each parent's willingness to support the child's relationship with the other parent;
- the history of care;
- the child's views and preferences where they can reasonably be ascertained;
- the child's cultural, linguistic, religious and spiritual upbringing;
- the parents' plans for the child's care;
- the ability and willingness of each person to meet the child's needs; and
- family violence and its impact on safety and parenting.
What Does “History of Care” Mean?
The court can look at who historically handled school communication, medical appointments, meals, bedtime, homework, activities and day-to-day care.
History of care matters because it helps the court understand the child's actual life. But it is one factor within the full best-interests analysis, not an automatic entitlement to future parenting arrangements.
Is 50/50 Parenting Automatic?
No.
The legislation says the court should give effect to the principle that a child should have as much time with each parent as is consistent with the child's best interests.
That does not create a mathematical rule requiring equal time in every case.
What About Day-to-Day Decisions?
Unless a court orders otherwise, a person exercising parenting time generally has authority to make day-to-day decisions affecting the child during that parenting time.
That is different from major decision-making responsibility for matters such as education or significant health decisions.
Family Violence Changes the Analysis
Current Ontario law expressly requires courts to consider family violence, including patterns of coercive and controlling behaviour, whether a child is directly or indirectly exposed to violence and the resulting risk of harm.
Parenting proposals must therefore be assessed through a safety lens where violence is alleged or established.
A Practical Example
Two parents separate. The children have always lived primarily with both parents, but one parent worked evenings while the other handled school nights. After separation, the working parent requests alternating weeks.
The court does not simply count past hours and award a percentage. It considers the children's ages, school routine, each parent's availability, transition between homes, history of care, ability to communicate and the overall best-interests factors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my child choose where to live?
A child's views and preferences can be considered and given weight based on age and maturity, but there is no single age at which a child automatically decides the parenting arrangement.
Can one parent make medical decisions alone?
That depends on how decision-making responsibility is allocated by agreement or court order and whether the issue is a major decision or an ordinary day-to-day matter.
What if the other parent refuses to follow the schedule?
The appropriate response depends on whether there is an agreement or order, the reason for non-compliance and any safety concerns. Document the issue and obtain advice before escalating conflict or withholding the child in response.
Do grandparents have automatic parenting rights?
No automatic entitlement exists simply because someone is a grandparent, but grandparents or other important people may seek contact in appropriate circumstances, with the child's best interests remaining central.
CanBridge Legal Tip
Bring a parenting plan, not just a parenting demand.
Think through school days, holidays, transportation, travel, medical decisions, extracurricular activities, communication and how disagreements will be handled. A practical plan tells the court—or the other parent—how the child will actually live.
How CanBridge Law Can Help
At CanBridge Law P.C., we assist parents with parenting plans, decision-making responsibility, parenting time, urgent parenting disputes and family-court proceedings.
Wasim Ahmad, Barrister & Solicitor, can review the child's current routine, history of care, safety concerns and the parents' proposed schedules to develop a child-focused legal strategy.
If you are worried about losing time with your child or being excluded from important decisions, the answer is not to react first. Understand the current legal arrangement, preserve the child's stability and get advice about the next step.
📞 Contact CanBridge Law
Phone: 437-225-1667
Email: wasim@canbridgelaw.com
Website: canbridgelaw.com
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About the Author
Wasim Ahmad, Barrister & Solicitor
CanBridge Law P.C.
CanBridge Legal Insights is an educational initiative of CanBridge Law P.C., created to make Canadian legal information easier for individuals and families to understand.
📚 Official Information & Further Reading
⚖️ Legal Disclaimer
This article is provided for general educational and informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Ontario family law depends on the facts of each case, and legislation, court rules and legal principles may change. Reading this article or contacting CanBridge Law P.C. does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Obtain legal advice about your own circumstances before signing an agreement, changing parenting arrangements, transferring property or taking court steps. No particular legal outcome is guaranteed.
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