Does Ontario still use the words 'custody' and 'access'?

Not in current law. As of March 1, 2021, both the federal Divorce Act and Ontario's Children's Law Reform Act replaced 'custody' and 'access' with 'decision-making responsibility,' 'parenting time,' and 'contact' (for non-parents like grandparents). You'll still hear 'custody' used informally, and older court orders may still use it, but new orders and agreements use the current terms.

Do I need to be divorcing to use Ontario's parenting laws?

No. If you were never married, or are separated but not yet divorced, Ontario's Children's Law Reform Act governs your parenting arrangements. The federal Divorce Act only applies once a divorce proceeding is underway between married spouses. Many separated Ontario parents never touch the Divorce Act at all.

Is a written parenting plan required in Ontario?

No, it's recommended but not mandatory. Parents can rely on an informal arrangement, but Ontario's own guidance warns that informal arrangements are harder to enforce if a dispute comes up later. A written parenting plan, whether in a separation agreement or a court order, gives both parents something concrete to point to.

What does 'parenting time' actually mean?

Parenting time is the time a child is in a parent's care, including time the child is at school or with a caregiver during what would otherwise be that parent's scheduled time. It replaced both 'custody' (which suggested one parent had more authority) and 'access' (which suggested a lesser, visiting role).

Can I move away with my child in Ontario?

It depends on your existing arrangement. Ontario law requires anyone with decision-making responsibility, parenting time, or contact to give at least 60 days' written notice before relocating or changing the child's residence, using a specific notice form, unless a court has waived that requirement. The other parent can object, and if they do, a court decides based on the child's best interests, including the reason for the move.

How do Ontario courts decide who gets decision-making responsibility?

Based entirely on the best interests of the child, there's no presumption favoring either parent, and no presumption that decision-making responsibility must be shared or must go to one parent alone. Courts weigh factors including the child's needs, each parent's relationship with the child, each parent's willingness to support the child's relationship with the other parent, and the child's own views where appropriate.

Ontario, Canada

Ontario Child Custody: A Parent's Guide

How child custody actually works in Ontario, in plain English: decision-making responsibility, parenting time, which law applies to your situation, best-interest factors, and moving with a child.

Legal sources reviewed: August 11, 2026

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In short: Ontario law no longer uses "custody" and "access." Since March 1, 2021, both the federal Divorce Act and Ontario's Children's Law Reform Act use "decision-making responsibility," "parenting time," and "contact" instead. Which law applies depends on your situation: married parents going through a divorce fall under the federal Divorce Act, while separating or never-married parents fall under Ontario's own Children's Law Reform Act. Both use the same best-interest-of-the-child standard, just under different statutes.

This is an educational overview written for parents, not lawyers. It isn't legal advice, and Ontario family law can turn on the specifics of your situation. For anything beyond general understanding, talk to a licensed Ontario family law lawyer or use Ontario's Family Law Information Centres.

Decision-making responsibility and parenting time

On March 1, 2021, Ontario and the federal government made parallel changes to family law terminology. "Custody" and "access" were replaced with:

Decision-making responsibility: the responsibility for making significant decisions about a child's well-being, including health, education, culture, language, religion and spirituality, and significant extracurricular activities. This can be held by one parent alone or shared between both.
Parenting time: the time a child spends in a parent's care, whether or not the child is physically with that parent at every moment (for example, while at school). This replaced both "custody," which implied one parent had a more central role, and "access," which implied a lesser, visiting role.
Contact: time a non-parent, most commonly a grandparent, spends with a child, ordered separately from parenting time and available only to non-parents.

The change was meant to shift the focus from a parent's rights over a child to the child's actual needs, and to remove the "winner/loser" framing that "custody" and "access" tended to carry. Functionally, parents can still end up with arrangements that range from fully shared decision-making and roughly equal parenting time to one parent holding most decision-making responsibility, the substance didn't change, the language and framing did.

Divorce Act vs. Children's Law Reform Act: which one applies to you

This is the single most important thing to get right, because it determines which court, which forms, and in some cases which specific rules apply.

Federal Divorce Act: applies only once a divorce proceeding is underway between married spouses. If you're married and filing for divorce, your parenting arrangements are decided under the Divorce Act, in either the Superior Court of Justice or, in some regions, the Ontario Court of Justice.
Ontario's Children's Law Reform Act (CLRA): applies to everyone else, parents who were never married, parents who are separated but not divorcing (or not yet divorcing), and married parents who haven't started a divorce proceeding. The CLRA is Ontario's own statute and is administered through the Ontario Court of Justice or the Superior Court of Justice.

In practice, a lot of separated Ontario parents never interact with the Divorce Act at all, if you're not married, or you're not filing for divorce, the CLRA governs your situation from start to finish. Both statutes were amended in the same March 2021 reform and now use the same terminology and largely the same best-interest framework, but they are still two separate laws, and a lawyer or court will confirm which one applies to your case.

How Ontario courts decide

Both the Divorce Act and the CLRA direct courts to decide based on the best interests of the child, with primary consideration given to the child's physical, emotional, and psychological safety, security, and well-being. Under the CLRA (section 24), factors include:

The child's needs, given their age and stage of development, including their need for stability
The nature and strength of the child's relationship with each parent, siblings, grandparents, and any other important person in the child's life
Each parent's willingness to support the child's relationship with the other parent
The child's views and preferences, given appropriate weight for their age and maturity, where they can be ascertained
The child's cultural, linguistic, religious, and spiritual upbringing and heritage, including Indigenous upbringing and heritage
Any history of family violence and its impact on the child's safety and well-being
Each person's ability to care for and meet the child's needs

There's no presumption favoring either parent, and no presumption that decision-making responsibility must be shared equally or held by one parent alone. The court weighs the full picture of the specific family.

Parenting time and schedules

Neither statute sets a single default schedule. What's common in Ontario in practice: alternating weeks, 2-2-3 rotations, and every-other-weekend arrangements with weeknight time, chosen based on the child's age, school situation, and how far apart the parents live. See how to choose a custody schedule for a general framework, and the custody schedule generator to build the actual calendar once you've settled on a pattern.

A written parenting plan, covering the schedule, decision-making responsibility, and how the parents will communicate, is strongly recommended in Ontario, whether as part of a separation agreement or a court order, but it isn't legally mandatory. Ontario's own guidance notes that informal, unwritten arrangements can be difficult to enforce if a dispute comes up later.

Moving with your child (relocation)

Ontario's relocation rules, added in the 2021 reform, apply regardless of whether you're under the Divorce Act or the CLRA:

Anyone with decision-making responsibility, parenting time, or contact who plans to relocate (move in a way likely to have a significant impact on the child's relationship with people who have parenting time, decision-making responsibility, or contact) must give written notice at least 60 days before the anticipated move, using the notice form set out in regulation, unless a court has waived the requirement.
A person planning a change of residence that isn't a "relocation" under the Act still generally must give notice of the new address, though the requirements are lighter than for a relocation.
If another person with parenting time, decision-making responsibility, or contact objects, they can apply to court to stop the move. The court then decides based on the child's best interests, considering factors such as the reason for the move, the impact on the child's relationships, and whether the person objecting has been exercising their parenting time.
If a relocation happens in compliance with the notice and objection process (and isn't itself prohibited by a court), it's treated as a material change in circumstances for the purpose of any future review of the parenting arrangement.

See moving to another state with shared custody for the general best-interest framework that relocation disputes tend to follow across jurisdictions, Ontario's notice-and-objection process is one detailed example.

Common questions

How is child support handled alongside decision-making and parenting time? Separately, under a different framework, the Federal Child Support Guidelines. See the Ontario child support guide for how that calculation works.

Do grandparents have a right to see a grandchild in Ontario? Grandparents (and other non-parents) can apply for a contact order under either statute, but they don't have an automatic right, the court still applies the best-interest standard.

What if my co-parent won't follow the parenting order? You can bring the matter back to court to enforce the order. Courts take non-compliance seriously and have a range of remedies, from make-up parenting time to, in serious or repeated cases, a review of the arrangement itself.

Can a parenting arrangement be changed later? Yes. Either parent can ask a court to vary decision-making responsibility or parenting time if there's been a material change in circumstances and the new arrangement would serve the child's best interests.

Practical considerations

Most separating Ontario parents resolve parenting arrangements through negotiation, mediation, or a separation agreement rather than a contested hearing, court is generally the option of last resort. Ontario's Family Law Information Centres, located at Superior Court of Justice and Ontario Court of Justice locations, provide free general information and referrals for parents navigating this without a lawyer, though for anything contested or complex, especially relocation or safety concerns, consulting a family law lawyer is worth strongly considering. Whatever the parenting arrangement ends up being, the ongoing part after it is decided, keeping both parents looking at the same schedule, tracking notice for relocation or schedule changes, and having a clear record if a dispute over the arrangement ever needs to go back to court, is a separate, ongoing piece worth planning for.

Official Ontario and federal resources

FAQ

Questions, answered

This information is provided for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. Family law varies by individual circumstances and may change over time. Consult a qualified attorney or appropriate official resource for advice about your situation.