Shared care after separation - is 50/50 a right?

Few questions cause more anxiety for separating parents than how much time the children will spend with each of them. "Shared care" and especially equal, week-about care is often the first thing people ask about, and it is also one of the most misunderstood areas of Australian family law. This article explains when a shared care arrangement tends to work, how a court approaches an application for equal time, and whether the law gives either parent a right to a 50/50 split.

Family lawyers use "equal shared parental responsibility" to mean shared decision-making about major long-term decisions in a child’s life, such as where the child goes to school, serious health decisions, a child’s name and questions of religion. That is a different thing from "equal time," which is about where the children live and sleep. “Equal time” is the living arrangement. The two are routinely confused and much of the anxiety about "50/50" flows from mixing them up.