When facing separation, it's crucial to start with parenting arrangements for several important reasons. First, you should make decisions for your child separate from financial considerations. Your decisions should focus on your kids and their best interests, with finances following those decisions rather than the reverse.

Additionally, some financial calculations depend on the parenting arrangements, making it necessary to establish parenting details first.

Under the law, guardians are people who are responsible to care for a child and make decisions related to that child. When parents live together with their child before separation – whether or not they're married – they're both guardians of the child and will continue to be guardians after the separation by default. This means both parents will be equally and jointly responsible for the care and upbringing of the child.

While it's possible to change this arrangement and agree to sole guardianship, this is a very rare circumstance that requires legal advice.

If someone is a biological parent to a child but the parents never lived together, the parent who didn't live with the child is not automatically a guardian. However, by agreement of the parties or court order, they can establish joint guardianship. Once joint guardianship is established, they can then make decisions about parenting responsibilities and parenting time.

If joint guardianship cannot be agreed upon or the court doesn't allow it, the non-residential parent can still have time with their child – this is called "contact time."

In the case of stepparents, the situation is different. A stepparent is not considered a parent under the law and can't agree to joint guardianship. A non-parent can only become a guardian to a child if it’s court-approved. However, stepparents can still have time with the child, which is called "contact time" rather than "parenting time."

Most people seeking separation will have lived together as the child's parents, meaning they will typically be guardians. For these situations, there are two main parts to consider:

These two elements form the basis for creating comprehensive parenting arrangements that serve the child's best interests during and after separation.