Co-Parenting Should Not Be a Scheduling Nightmare
When your children are babies, old people knowingly tell you that things get easier as your children get older. Then they immediately revise their statements when they remember that raising teenagers is a herculean task, but at least when your children are in elementary school, you get to enjoy the calm before the storm. Perhaps the old folks have forgotten that, when your children are in school, you never get a moment to rest. School drop offs and pickups are at the most inconvenient times and locations, and your afternoons and evenings disappear as you attend your children while they participate in extracurricular activities and do their homework. Managing time as a parent of school-aged children is a big enough challenge when both parents and the children are living together as a family, but it is even more difficult if you are divorced. A carefully crafted parenting plan helps, but when unforeseen circumstances require a change in one parent’s routine, the results are disruptive for the whole family. A Boca Raton child custody lawyer can help you if your parenting plan was working just fine, but a change to your work situation means that you have to make some adjustments.
Dad Stays in Condo for Two Days Per Week to Accommodate New Work Schedule
For so many reasons, parenting plans are much simpler when the parents live only a few miles away from each other. If it is normally Mom’s responsibility to pick the children up after school, Dad can easily pick them up on short notice if Mom has car trouble or has to stay at work later than expected. Not everyone’s family situation is that simple. If you and your ex-spouse live in different counties, then you plan your entire week around your parenting schedule, and at least one parent has to make a long drive on Florida’s notoriously stressful highways at least once per week.
Florida case law is full of creative solutions, no matter how inconvenient, that families have come up with to accommodate their co-parenting and work schedules. They might meet in the parking lot of a centrally located Walmart twice per week, or a family member whose idea of fun is rocking out to kid-friendly tunes on the open road might assist with the driving. In one case, a couple divorced in Martin County, but the mother lost her job, and the nearest new job she could find was in Fort Lauderdale, so she moved to Lake Worth for a shorter, but still considerable, commute. The father had parenting time on the weekends. He bought a condominium in Lake Worth so that he wouldn’t have to spend the majority of his parenting time driving, and so that the child would be able to get to school on time on Mondays.
Contact Schwartz | White About a Co-Parenting Arrangement That Is Acceptable for the Whole Family
A South Florida family law attorney can help you draft a parenting plan that does not cause excessive inconvenience for the parents or the children. Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.
Source:
scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=5818853178216776742&q=divorce+Martin&hl=en&as_sdt=4,10&as_ylo=2013&as_yhi=2023
