As married parents, you and your partner made medical decisions for your child together. When they were born, you picked a pediatrician. You decided what vaccines you wanted them to get. If they got sick, you worked together to determine if they should go to the hospital, the emergency room, the urgent care center or the pediatrician’s office.
All of this feels very natural when you’re married, but things can get complicated if you get divorced. Who gets to make these healthcare decisions? What if you have to make a decision when you ex is not around? What if you disagree on what type of treatment your child should get? Maybe you want the child to get certain vaccinations and your ex doesn’t, for example. Who gets to decide?
Who has legal custody?
The main thing to remember is that there are both physical and legal custody rights that get divided during a divorce. Legal custody is the ability to make decisions – such as healthcare decisions – on a child’s behalf.
So if the divorce decree says that you are the only one who has legal custody, you can make these choices independently. Your ex cannot make them behind your back. Even if they have physical custody, you’re still in charge of these decisions.
However, if legal custody has been split between both of you, then you still have to work together. You can’t authorize a treatment that your spouse prohibits. You both have the same right to make these decisions and you have to work together and find compromises – or the court can make a ruling.
As you can imagine, this often leads to serious disputes. Parents who find themselves in this position must understand all of their legal options.
