Decision-Making Responsibility vs Parenting Time in PEI

Parents going through separation in Prince Edward Island often search for information about "custody" and "access" — terms the law no longer uses. Since March 2021 amendments to the Divorce Act and the Children's Law Act, PEI courts work exclusively with two concepts: decision-making responsibility and parenting time. Understanding the distinction between them shapes every negotiation, mediation session, and court application you will encounter.

Decision-Making Responsibility

Decision-making responsibility is the authority to make significant, long-term decisions about your child's life. It covers four domains:

• Health and medical care — choosing doctors, consenting to surgery, deciding on medication
• Education — selecting schools, approving tutoring, making decisions about learning support
• Cultural, linguistic, and religious upbringing — choosing religious instruction, cultural programs, language immersion
• Significant extracurricular activities — committing to competitive sports teams, travel programs, or intensive arts training

This is not about daily routines. A parent with decision-making responsibility is not choosing what the child eats for dinner — they are choosing whether the child attends a French immersion school or receives orthodontic treatment.

Parenting Time

Parenting time is simpler: it is the period during which the child physically lives with you. During your parenting time, you make all routine, day-to-day decisions — meals, bedtime, homework supervision, playdates, screen time limits.

The child-support threshold is 40% of parenting time over the course of a year. If each parent exercises at least 40% of parenting time, the arrangement meets the shared-parenting threshold for child support purposes. This changes how child support is calculated under the Federal Child Support Guidelines.

How Courts Allocate Each

Decision-making and parenting time are allocated independently. A parent can have 30% parenting time but still share joint decision-making responsibility. Common arrangements include:

Joint decision-making + shared parenting time — both parents decide major issues together and split physical time near 50/50. This requires cooperative communication.

Joint decision-making + primary/secondary time — both parents participate in major decisions, but the child lives primarily with one parent. The other has regular parenting time (alternate weekends, midweek visits).

Sole decision-making + primary time — one parent holds both decision-making authority and the majority of parenting time. Courts may allocate decision-making responsibility solely to one parent where that arrangement serves the child's best interests.

Divided decision-making — each parent has exclusive authority over specific domains. One might decide on education while the other decides on healthcare. This is less common but can work when parents agree in some areas but not others.

Why the Terminology Change Matters

The shift from "custody and access" to "decision-making responsibility and parenting time" was not cosmetic. Old terminology framed one parent as the winner (custodial parent) and the other as a visitor (access parent). The new framework emphasizes that both parents retain responsibilities toward their child, and that both have a role in the child's life — even if their time or decision-making authority is not equal.

Court pleadings, separation agreements, and judicial orders must use decision-making responsibility and parenting time; the older custody/access terms are obsolete.

For a detailed walkthrough of how to structure decision-making and parenting time into a court-ready agreement, the Prince Edward Island Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide covers each model with worked examples specific to PEI's Supreme Court expectations.

See more Prince Edward Island guides →