If your parenting agreement or court order was made several years ago, it may still use the words “custody” and “access.” If you are creating or changing a parenting arrangement today, you are more likely to see different terms: decision-making responsibility, parenting time and contact. The federal Divorce Act stopped using “custody” and “access” when major amendments came into force on March 1, 2021. Ontario's Children's Law Reform Act was also amended effective March 1, 20

If you are separating and have children, you may still find yourself using words like “custody” and “access.” Those terms were used in Canadian family law for many years. But since March 1, 2021, the federal Divorce Act and Ontario's Children's Law Reform Act have used different language for new parenting arrangements: decision-making responsibility and parenting time. The change is useful because these two terms describe different parts of parenting after separation. One ans