Spending quality time with your children is especially important after a divorce or separation. Therefore, many parents will quarrel over a child’s free time and, which parent such free time is spent with. Therefore, parents who have children of school age will need to especially designate summer vacation time in their parenting plans. Your Orlando Divorce Attorney can help to craft a plan, or modify an existing one, to ensure that your child has a fun and easy summer break with you and your former partner.
There are many options for parents to consider when determining the summer break. Some parents choose to continue their normal schedule into the summer term. However, if their normal schedule only includes every other weekend with their child, they may want to alter this arrangement for the summer time in order to gather more time with their child. However, some important factors to consider is the geographic viability of a parenting plan. For instance, some parents no longer live within the same location after a separation and the parents may be separated by hours or even states. In these cases, a weekly alternation may not be plausible during the school year, put more possible during the summer time. However, if a parent is unable alternate weekly due to living in separate states the parents may choose to do a monthly alternation or even a yearly alternation of summer vacations. A yearly alternating schedule would include one parent retaining timesharing during the summer vacation every even year while the second parent retains timesharing during the summer vacation during the odd years. Alternating schedules during the summer time allow your child to spend equal amounts of quality time with each parent.
Being without your child for such extended periods can be difficult on a parent and therefore, such a yearly schedule may not work for you and your child. Therefore, some parents choose to divide the summer in half. With one parent retaining timesharing the first half of the summer and the second half of the summer is spent with the second parent. However, some parents may still opt to stick to their regular routine for their child throughout the entire year. Each parenting plan may look a little different and is formulated to best fit your family’s needs.
More aspects to consider surrounding a summer vacation timesharing, include exchange times and days. During the summer time there is less of a need for the children to be in bed and ready for school at a certain time and the weekends are essentially extended. Therefore, some parents choose to modify the exchange times with their coparent to account for the change in circumstances surrounding the summer term. With no school schedule to dictate early nights, parents can afford to be more flexible during this time. As during the school year, it is imperative that the lines of communication stay open. Communication is key to successful co-parenting and making these adjustments into each new season.
Some crucial aspects of a summer time sharing plan to consider are summer camps and family vacations. It will be necessary to discuss with your partner the camps your child may be attending and the dates and costs of these activities. If they fall within a parent’s designated time sharing will they be granted the opportunity to make up this time later on with the child or will you simply continue the plan as scheduled. Further, if an opportunity for a trip comes up and it is scheduled outside of your custodial dates, plan this in advance with your former spouse. Simple date swapping or other alternatives can easily remedy this situation.
If you are having difficulty determining a parenting plan in regards to your summer vacation timesharing, talk with an Orlando Child Custody Attorney. They will be able to explain the intricate details to these plans that you may have forgotten and be able to draft an effective parenting plan that will give the parents equal time with the children during the summer break.
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