What is Legal Decision Making? This is a legal term used to refer to the right and responsibility of an individual to make nonemergency legal decisions on behalf of a minor (i.e. education, health care, religion, personal care). Parents can be awarded sole or joint legal decision making. When determining the level of decision making according to the child’s best interests, the court will consider certain factors as set down by Arizona state law (A.R.S. Section 25-403(A) and 25-403.01(B)). Legal decision making was previously referred to as “custody.”
What is Parenting Time? This refers to the schedule of time delineating which parent has access to the child on what days/time periods. During their scheduled “parenting time” each parent is responsible for providing the child with food, clothing, shelter and should make routine decisions regarding the child’s day to day care. …show more content…
Legal decision making can be granted to a person other than the parent by the court, but in most instances this is not the case so the information provided here will be assuming that parents will be seeking legal decision making or parenting time. Arizona state law in regards to the information that follows can be found in Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 25, Chapter