What is the difference between custody and care and control?
The scope of the smaller day-to-day decisions under care and control can be contrasted against major decisions under custody.
Custody
Custody relates to the major decisions regarding a child’s life, such as which country the child is to live in and the child’s surname. Other examples include the child’s education, religion, and major healthcare decisions. A parent with sole custody can make these significant decisions without consulting the parent without custody.
In recent times, however, the court has granted joint custody of the children of the marriage to both parents, as it is usually in the best interest of the children to have both parents involved in their lives.
Care and control
Care and control concerns who the child should live with as well as the smaller day-to-day decisions of a child’s life. These include taking care of the child’s daily necessities like food, transportation, and bedtime arrangements.
In divorces where the husband and wife are on talking terms, it is not uncommon for the divorcing spouses to agree to shared care and control. In this situation, the divorcing spouses continue to decide together the smaller day-to-day decisions for the child of the marriage even after the divorce.
In divorces where the husband and wife are not on talking terms, it is the usual arrangement for one spouse to have sole care and control. The spouse who does not have care and control will then typically be granted access to the child.
