A New Approach to Parenting Plans

One of the most difficult aspects of crafting a parenting plan for child visitation is addressing the holidays. Parents can create a holiday schedule detailing which parent will spend time with their children on certain holidays and other special occasions, such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, children’s birthdays, etc. By creating their own schedule parents and children benefit by not only having direct input in the schedule, the court also gives priority to a schedule created by parents over any other custodial time ordered by the Court.
To address family visits and events most parents create a schedule which alternate holidays every other year. With this arrangement, neither parent spends the same holiday with their children for more than one year in a row. For example: children spend Thanksgiving with their father in 2016 and alternately with their mother in 2017.
Another approach is to split the holiday in half. With this arrangement, children would spend time with each parent during the holiday. This can include parents splitting the day in half so that children spend time with each parent during the holiday or splitting a long weekend, such as Veteran’s Day, in half.
A new approach allows each parent to celebrate a special event with their child(ren).  Parents can choose to schedule the holiday twice to fully celebrate rather than alternating or splitting the day. For example, one parent can celebrate Christmas with the children on December 20th and the other parent on the 25th. I favor this type of schedule, because instead of missing a holiday with the other parent, children get to celebrate the same holiday twice and visit with all their family!
You can use any combination of the above to divide and share holidays, allowing children to enjoy family traditions and have quality time with both parents.
For more information on family law matters contact The Reape-Rickett Law Firm at 661-288-1000.