A lot of your job as a parent is about working out the logistics. Can you get your children out the door in time for school in the morning? Can you get them home — or to an after-school activity — in the afternoon? And can you get them to doctor’s appointments, friends’ houses and all the other places they need to go?
All these issues are tough enough when two parents live with their children full-time. They can become much more complicated after parents divorce.
Florida parenting plans
Florida law requires courts to make all determinations involving children based on their understanding of the child’s best interests. Courts must also presume that it is in the best interest of a child to have continuing contact with both parents.
Consistent with these goals, Florida law requires divorcing parents to come up with a parenting plan for their minor children. Making this plan requires deciding how to divide the responsibilities of making decisions about the chid’s upbringing and education, as well as how the parents will communicate with the children when they are not living together. The plan must also include details of how the parents will share responsibility for the daily duties of child-raising.
Along with this requirement comes the need for a time-sharing schedule, detailing when the children will be with each parent.
There are a lot of ways to divide time in this type of schedule. Some parents work out a system where they take their children on alternate weeks. Others will hand over the kids every three days and alternate weekends.
The truth is that there is no one plan that works for every parent or every child all the time. When making your plan, you will need to consider what’s best for your child, and what’s most workable for you.
No one said parenting was easy, and preparing a parenting plan certainly isn’t. You can get a