What do “Custody”, “Care and Control” and “Access” mean?
- Custody: this refers to your right, as a parent, to make important / key decisions over major aspects of the child’s upbringing and welfare, such as those affecting the following:
- Religion e.g. whether your child should be receive religious instruction, attend a place of worship or participate in religious activities / ceremonies.
- Education e.g. whether your child should attend a particular school or enrichment class, whether your child should participate in a particular co-curricular or extra-curricular activity.
- Medical / health treatment e.g. whether your child should receive / undergo a particular type of medical treatment.
- Care and Control: this refers to your right, as a parent, to have authority and responsibility over the day-to-day matters of the child (i.e. caring for and supervising the child on a day-to-day basis)
- The child will reside with the parent who is awarded with care and control of the child
- Access: this refers to your right, as a parent, to have contact and physical access to and and spend time with your child if you have not been awarded with care and control of your
- The objective and purpose of this is to ensure that the parent who does not have Care and Control of the child still has sufficiently regular contact and adequate opportunities to develop and maintain a good parent-child relationship with the child.
- For example, a parent may be granted with day-time access to the child for a certain number days during the week and overnight access during the weekend.
- The Court’s orders regarding Custody, Care and Control and Access generally ends when your child reaches the age of 21 or when the child becomes financially independent.
- However, the Court has the authority to order that the orders continue to be in place after your child reaches the age of 21 e.g. until your child recovers from any medical treatment or disability.
