Joint Legal Custody

§ 93-5-24 provides that the joint legal custodians shall “share the decision-making rights, the responsibilities and the authority relating to the health, education and welfare of a child,” and “An award of joint legal custody obligates the parties to exchange information concerning the health, education and welfare of the minor child, and to confer with each other in the exercise of the decision-making rights, responsibilities and authority.”

I have been thinking a lot about legal custody as of late.  Similar to blog articles by Judge Primeaux, I am becoming more of a fan of adding a tie-break provision to my settlement agreements.  The problem is that the statute does not say what is to happen when the parties cannot agree.  There is some authority that says the party with primary physical custody can on certain necessities but the language is not very clear cut.  One of the nastiest cases I had dealt with a situation where the parties could not agree on anything and both of them kept doing what they felt was best which included multiple school changes and daycare changes.  The case is a reported opinion and there is a lot of background that is in the trial transcript that did not make it into the appellate opinion.  

Connecticut has found this tie-breaker provision to still be consistent with an award of joint custody.  This tie break provision does not prevent either party from meaningfully participating in the major decisions relating to the child, but rather, provides the parties with a solution for the occasion when, despite good faith and multiple attempts to reach a decision, the parties cannot agree.  Something to consider.