Making the Best Child Custody Schedule for Your Child
The child custody schedule is one of the most important things you need to figure out for child custody. This is the schedule
that dictates how much time each parent has with the children until the children are adults. Thus, you should want to create
the very best child custody schedule for your child that you can.
The custody schedule is relatively straight
forward. There are three main components in the schedule. The first is the repeating cycle of custody and visitation. The
second is the holiday schedule. And the third includes special events and times when the schedule changes. If you take time
to figure out all three of these, then you will have a great start for your child custody situation.
To figure out the basic cycle of custody and visitation, you need to know who the custodial parent is. If you and the
other parent haven't decided, you need to figure out how much custody each parent will have. This is the general guideline
that you will use when making the schedule. Parents can opt for one parent having the majority of time or the parents splitting
the time more evenly. Choose whatever works best for your situation.
Once you and the other parent have decided the amount of time you will both have, you make a plan in the calendar. Write
out the custody and visitation schedule for a few weeks (anywhere from one week to four). This will be your
basic template of custody and visitation. You could have a four week schedule where each parent alternates two weeks
of custody. Or, you can have a one week schedule where one parent has the weekdays and the other parent gets an overnight
visit during the week and the weekends. You should map it out and then repeat the cycle through a year of the calendar. This
will help you know how much time each parent has with the children.
After the basic schedule is applied to the calendar, you can move on to scheduling the holidays. An easy way to do this
is to get a list of the holidays and school holidays you want to include. Go through the holidays and determine how long
they last. Does Labor Day include the whole weekend? Is Christmas one day or two? Figure out how they are divided (or if
you want to split the holiday between the parents). Then split the holidays between the parents giving both parents an equal
number of bigger and smaller holidays. Once they are divided you can put them in your calendar. Remember that a holiday has
higher priority for custody than the regular schedule.
The final thing to enter into your custody schedule is any special events. Special events are any times that the normal
custody changes. So, if you know that your child has a sporting event every Wed. evening in the fall, you should put that
in and change any visitation that normally occurs during that time. You can also put in time when the child needs to be at
one of the homes--for family functions, etc.
Once all of this is in your calendar you should have a good, working schedule. This will help you and your children stay
organized and know where you are supposed to be. Spending the time on your custody
schedule will give you a good foundation for your child custody case.
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