Full decision making is informal language that people use to mean one parent has sole legal decision making authority over a child. Arizona law uses sole legal decision making as the correct term. Full custody, full decision making, and sole custody are all phrases that point to the same concept under current Arizona law — one parent holds the legal authority to make major nonemergency decisions about the child’s education, health care, religious upbringing, and personal care without being required to consult or obtain agreement from the other parent.

Sole legal decision making is available when joint decision making is not appropriate given the history of the relationship. Domestic violence, an inability to communicate and cooperate on major issues, substance abuse, or a pattern of one parent undermining the other are all grounds courts consider.

Having sole decision making does not mean the other parent disappears from the child’s life. Parenting time and legal decision making are decided separately. A parent can have sole legal decision making while the other parent still has regular parenting time. What it means is that one parent has final authority when the parents cannot agree.