School forms

[williaer]

My ex and I have joint physical/legal custody of my daughter. I am the residential parent for the purpose of school placement ( which I think is a nice way of saying...residential parent w/o pissing off the other party). We are in Ohio and we drew up the "Shared Parenting Plan" ourselves and filed and had it ordered. It is a 50% split.

QUESTIONS:
1. Who is the "legal guardian"?
2. Who is the non-custodial parent?
3. Does residential parent status make you the "legal guardian"?

Thanks

[socrateaser]

>My ex and I have joint physical/legal custody of my daughter.
>I am the residential parent for the purpose of school
>placement ( which I think is a nice way of
>saying...residential parent w/o pissing off the other party).
>We are in Ohio and we drew up the "Shared Parenting Plan"
>ourselves and filed and had it ordered. It is a 50% split.
>
>QUESTIONS:
>1. Who is the "legal guardian"?

No one. Legal guardian is a designation awarded to a parson who is granted the right to control and care for a child or legally incompetent adult.

>2. Who is the non-custodial parent?

No one. If you are both awarded joint legal and physical custody, then you are both custodial parents.

>3. Does residential parent status make you the "legal
>guardian"?

No. The parenting plan defines the term as being for the purpose of school placement, which means that the child will attend school in the district where the residential parent is domiciled (lives).

Confused yet? Good. So, is the rest of the legal community.

Political correctness has permeated every level of family law. Consequently, terminology in this area is a sea of storms. The following terms are well recoginzed by the courts:

Physical Custody: is the right to control the day-to-day activities of the child (i.e., breakfast, lunch, dinner, homework, choice of clothes, wakeup, sleep, routine socialization). These rights are delegable, i.e., you can designate another person to exercise your physical custody rights without the court's permission.

Legal Custody: is the right to make major decisions regarding the child's heath, education and welfare (what religion, private or public school, major medical decisions, whether or not to work, when it's ok to get a driver's license, passport, where to go on summer vacation, where to live, whether to get a piercing or a tattoo, etc.). These rights are delegable (see above for definition).

Joint _____ Custody: is the right of both parents to make the above-described decisions. Both parents have an undivided interest, i.e., either can overrule the other, whuch means that in practice, the last person to decide wins, which gives the person with whom the child lives more regularly a distinct advantage.

Sole _____ Custody: is the absolute right of one parent to make the above-described decisions.

Visitation: is the right of a parent to spend time with his/her child. This is a personal right, i.e., a license, andit is non-delegable, which means that you cannot permit some other person the right to visitation with the child.

That's it. There are no other legally congnizable rights. There are, however, a number of phrases in common use, which courts use to engage in political correctness (or as you put it, so as not to "piss off" a parent).

"Residential parent", has no meaning other than as described in the court order or state statutes. "Physical responsibility," "shared parenting" and/or "parenting time," is similar. This doesn't mean that such phrases don't have important meanings. It just means that the words are sufficiently new to the legal landscape that they don't have any well-recognized definition that fits easily into a legal dictionary.

Hope this helps.

[Bradley]

So if there is Joint phisical and Legal custody can both parties make decisions for the child while in there custody? Or does each parent have to consult the other for every decision concerning these topics?

[socrateaser]

>So if there is Joint phisical and Legal custody can both
>parties make decisions for the child while in there custody?
>Or does each parent have to consult the other for every
>decision concerning these topics?

Absent an express instruction by the court to obtain consent from the other parent, "joint" means each parent has independent total authority. This is why the combination of joint legal custody, and any amount of greater physical parenting responsibility in either parent creates an overwelming advantage in control of the child's destiny. The following is an (admittedly unrealistic) example of what is legally possible:

Parent A: Determines that child goes to private school.
Parent B: Determines that child doesn't go to private school.
Parent A: Enrolls child.
Parent B: Withdraws enrollment.
Parent A: Takes child to school on first day and enrolls child. Child attends school.
Parent B: Withdraws child from school.
Parent A: Takes child to school on second day and reenrolls child. Child attends school.

Thus, the parent who is awarded or is actually exercising daily supervisory control over the child effectively wins every controversy, unless the court orders mandate consent from both parents.

Such consent is never granted, because the parents wouldn't be in court if they agreed with everything -- so it's ridiculous to think that mutual consent is a reasonable solution.

[Bradley]

What is the difference between Joint custody and joint managing conservator? in Texas BTW

[socrateaser]

>What is the difference between Joint custody and joint
>managing conservator? in Texas BTW

The traditional name for a person named by the court to manage the financial assets of a legal incompetent (i.e., a minor child or an adult deemed legally incapacitated) is "conservator."

So, TX has used this name to describe a custodial relationship. I don't know whether this is the equivalent of legal or physical custodian (but if you tell me the name of the other conservator, I'll bet I can make an educated guess).

What matters, is that this demonstrates my statement that the names used in family law to describe parties is a sea of politically correct storms. Oh how I long for the days when men were men and women couldn't vote.

Just kidding. Now, where are my meds -- and my froggy -- WHERE'S my FROGGY???