Parenting involves both where the children will live, called physical custody, and decision-making authority, called legal custody.

• Determine who and how to make the major decisions about your child(ren)'s lives, e.g., medical decision-making, religious upbringing, and education, etc.

• Establish communication protocols between parents.

• Agree upon how to spend holidays and school vacations out of earshot of your children.

Economically support your child(ren), called child support.

• The NY State Child Support Guidelines offer one way to determine child support

• These Guidelines don't cover all the extra expenses of raising a child, such as child care expenses, extracurricular activities, and out of pocket medical expenses.