Who makes medical decisions when a child's parents are divorced?

Until a court order says otherwise, both parents have equal rights to make decisions about their children. A common court order is for parties to share joint legal custody, wherein both parents have an equal right to make decisions regarding the health, welfare, and education of their child. However, there can be all sorts of legal custody variations, so the specific terms of the court's legal custody order will dictate who has the right to make the decisions, whether certain decisions require mutual agreement, and other issues.

In disputes, judges are more likely to decide which parent has authority to make the decision, or give one parent “tie-breaking authority,” rather than the judge directly making the decision for your child. For example, rather than making an order that a child can take ADHD medication, the court might make an order that one parent has legal custody over the issue of the ADHD medication, or over all the child's medical issues, or that the parent has tie-breaking authority on any issues related to the ADHD treatment.

The parental authority to make decisions for their children can be challenged if there’s evidence that the parent is making decisions that place the child at significant risk of harm.

For more information, see our full article Navigating Divorce and Co-Parenting Children with Disabilities.