3rd
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2011
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When deciding how to divide your children’s time after the divorce, parents often write parenting plans. Parenting plans spell out the terms of the children’s timesharing with each parent and each parent’s responsibility for decision making and support after divorce. Temporary parenting plans can also be used before the final judgment. The plan provides the roadmap for your children’s future. Parenting plans are the most important document in a Florida divorce with children.
Parenting plans can be as detailed or as vague as the parents want. For timesharing, Florida courts have “model schedules” for each circuit (and sometimes in each county). Typically, there is a model schedule for local parents and another for parents who live further away.
You will want to read the model schedule for your area for three reasons. First, you will see what a partial parenting plan looks and sounds like. Second, you may decide that the model schedule in your area is appropriate for your family. If so, the bulk of your parenting plan work is done. Third, you may want to use the parts of the model schedule are appropriate for your family.
Parenting plans needs to meet the needs of your family. If the model schedule is not appropriate for your family, you may decide that parts of the model plan can be re-worked for your family. You may also want to do an online search and look at some other parenting plan language to see if one fits your family’s situation better.
When writing a parenting plan, at a minimum, you should include the following 6 items in your parenting plan:
Information about the children – Names and dates of birth Standards of Parental Conduct – How parents act toward each other & children Parental Responsibility – Decision making Primary Residence – Timesharing Child support – Guideline calculation/deviation, college How the Plan Can be Changed – Written and signed by both, triggers that will cause changes
Developing the parenting plan can help you become clearer about what your expectations for your former spouse are. It can also help you focus on the long-range plan for your children. Parents with young children have to look far into the future and consider how those future decisions will be made and the future responsibilities allocated.
Through the years, I’ve noticed that parents who work hard to develop a detailed parenting plan tend to return to court less for enforcement issues. I think the success of the plan is equal to the time you put into developing it. The parenting plan is a roadmap for your children’s future. You will probably want to include many more items in your parenting plan. The six ingredients listed here are the bare minimum for a parenting plan.
29th
07 -
2011
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Parenting time schedules generally have three or four parts to them. These parts include the repeating cycle of custody and visitation, the holiday schedule, vacation, and special events. All of these are important to figure out as the parents divide up parenting time, and each part influences the visitation timeshare calculation. Here are some ways that the parts of the schedule can impact the timeshare.
The foundation of the parenting time schedule is the repeating cycle. To make this, parent sit down and come up with a block of time and schedule in the time when the child is with each parent. For example, let’s say the parents have a two week period. The father has the children during the week, and each parent has one weekend. The mother is also given an overnight visit during the week and an evening visit during the week. The parents would schedule in this time for the two weeks and then repeat it throughout the year.
Because the repeating cycle is the biggest part of the schedule it impacts the visitation timeshare calculation the most. The visitation timeshare calculation is the percentage of time that each parent has the children. So, with the repeating cycle above, the timeshare calculation would be about twenty-five percent for the mother and seventy-five percent for the father. Parents can increase the time of the visits or add visits to make the percentage higher for the mother.
The holiday schedule is made by the parents listing all of the holidays and then dividing them up between them. Each parent should receive equal major and smaller holidays. The mother and father also need to decide the length of the holiday.
The holiday schedule can impact the visitation timeshare because additional days are given to each parent. Since each parent is given about the same holidays, the timeshare shouldn’t change too much. Although, parents can adjust the length of the holiday to increase the timeshare percentage.
Vacation time and special events are the last thing that go into the parenting time schedule. Vacation time can be time allotted for the parents to take the children and can also include where the children go during spring and summer break. Parents can use vacations to even out the timeshare percentage by letting the child spend more time with one parent during the summer, the child spending spring break with a parent, etc. Special events are generally only one time events that probably won’t impact the overall timeshare calculation very much.
Parents can use the information from the visitation timeshare calculation to make the best possible parenting time schedule. They can then enjoy the time they have with the children.
21st
07 -
2011
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comment closed
A good parenting plan is all about the details. Even when parents are cooperative about shared parenting, a detailed parenting plan is still essential to avoid confusion, misunderstandings and disputes in the future. Here are three questions about holiday time that every parenting plan should answer.
When do major holidays begin and end?
Parenting plans usually make some kind of provision for alternating the major holidays between the parents. But, what exactly does Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, or Christmas really mean? Are they the whole weekend or just the day? What time does parenting time start for each holiday and what time does it end? Even if, during their separation, the parents have been able to work out these details as each holiday has come up, it’s not uncommon for these issues to cause disputes from time to time. Providing this kind of detail in the parenting plan gives parents something to refer to if conflict or confusion arise.
First, specify in the parenting plan exactly which holidays you are alternating between the parents. Then, for each holiday, detail exactly what day and time the holiday time starts and what day and time it ends. For Thanksgiving, you might say something like, “Thanksgiving will be from after school or daycare on the day before Thanksgiving, until Sunday at 5:00 p.m.” For Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, you might say, “Mother’s Day/Father’s Day will include the weekend from Friday after school or daycare until Sunday at 5:00 p.m.” If you decide that weekends extend until the children are delivered to school or daycare on Monday morning, say so.
Do we adjust the regular parenting schedule after the holiday?
Generally, holidays have priority over regular parenting time, although this should be spelled out in the parenting plan. Sometimes, however, holidays will cause one parent to have the children three weekends in a row. Do you want to just roll with it and know that everything will balance out eventually? Or do you want to add something to your parenting plan that prevents either parent from having the children more than two weekends in a row?
Consider what is in the children’s best interests. The simplest option will always be to settle right back into the parenting schedule with no adjustments. If that’s what you decide to do, say so. If you really feel that it’s important to even things out immediately, consider something like this: “When the holiday schedule interacts with the regular schedule such that one parent would have three weekends in a row, we shall adjust the weekend schedule so that, instead, each parent has two weekends in a row. If we cannot agree which two weekends each parent will have, the parent who has the children for the holiday shall also have them for the weekend before the holiday and the other parent shall have the children for the two weekends after the holiday.”
What about other three-day weekends?
There are many three-day weekends that aren’t national holidays. Most parenting plans include the basic three-day weekends like Memorial Day and Labor Day. But what about Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, President’s Birthday and Columbus Day, not to mention the miscellaneous three-day weekends in the school calendar? If your children are off school, it’s an exception to your regular parenting plan. The problem is that no matter how specific you try to be, it’s likely you will miss at least one, and this kind of ambiguity can increase tensions between the parents.
Your first decision is how many three-day weekends you want to specifically include in your parenting plan. Start with the three-day weekends when one or both parents are off work on the Monday. As for the others, it will be helpful to you in the long run if you clearly state whether weekend parenting time will extend to the day off school or not.
Here are two possible statements you might use: “Unless we agree otherwise in writing, no changes will be made to the regular parenting schedule for any three-day weekends other than Memorial Day and Labor Day (and any others you want to include). For those three-day weekends we have specified, if parenting time would ordinarily conclude on Sunday, it will be extended to the same time on Monday (or, if parenting time would ordinarily conclude on Monday, it will be extended to conclude at the same time on Tuesday).” or “For any three-day weekend the children are off school, if parenting time would ordinarily conclude on Sunday, it will be extended to the same time on Monday (or, if parenting time would ordinarily conclude on Monday, it will be extended to conclude at the same time on Tuesday).”
Taking a little extra time to add these holiday details to your parenting plan can save you time, money and hard feelings in the future.
? 2008, Mary Wollard, J.D., Family Solutions Center, LLC