Legal Question in Family Law in Canada

A physician's note is just that; a note or letter like one from any other. Physicians are not experts in custody and access matters, and while they may have opinions, so does everyone else. Only someonbe with training in custody and access matters should give such an opinion. Such people are, for example, Psychologists trained in Custody and Access or Registered Clinical Counsellors trained to assess Custody and Access.If the note implies that one parent has custody to the exclusion of the other (so as to deny access to the other for example) it is, in the opinion of this lawyer, highly unprofessional of the physician. The physician is on no better footing than many other people and he/she certainly can not make a determination that only a Court can make.

In British Columbia, if there is no court order about custody and no written agreement about it between the parents, then the default position is that until a court sorts it out and makes an order whoever the chhild usually lives with has custody - after all the child has to live with someone. This does not mean that the other parent is barred from seeing the child; each of the parents at this stage is equal, and neither can or should interfere with a child's right to be parented by both by prohibiting contact with one of the parents.