It can be difficult to figure out how to handle vacations when you’re a co-parent. After all, it may necessitate a bit of a change to your normal schedule.
For instance, child custody schedules are often set up so that each parent has custody every other week. This might be completely fine during the school year when parents are at work and children are at school. But children have different schedules over holidays or the summer break, and that’s when parents often want to take them on vacation. This may not fit perfectly with the schedule that was already established for the rest of the year.
How do you address it?
You do have many options to address this. It’s best to plan in advance. For example, some parents will set aside specific weeks where vacations are permissible. Others will simply set up a guideline, such as clearing a vacation with the other parent prior to going. The tactics you use may simply depend on if you and your co-parent are on amicable terms or not.
But it is very important to know if the arrangement you have allows for vacations and to take the proper steps. For example, don’t assume that you can just take the children out of the state if that is prohibited. Don’t assume that you can keep them for extra days if your ex is supposed to have custody just because your trip isn’t over. You don’t want to do something that you think makes logical sense, but that actually violates your ex’s rights.
That’s why everyone needs to understand their legal position and exactly what steps to take, especially if a modification is necessary.