When co-parenting after a divorce, communication is very important. This is especially true at times when the established child custody schedule has to be altered.
For example, many parents decide to take vacations or breaks over the summer holiday, when their kids don’t have to go to school. This time off can give them a chance to go on road trips, visit other countries, spend time with extended family members and much more.
A temporary custody schedule
The reason why communication is so important is because the summer can lead to temporary changes in the child custody schedule. It can look much different than it does during the school year.
For instance, a very common school-year custody schedule just involves the parents exchanging the children every other week. Both parents take turns dropping them off or picking them up from school, so they always know exactly what obligations and responsibilities they have.
The same schedule may work during the summer, but say that one parent gets two weeks off from work and wants to take an extended vacation. They may be able to do so, but they need to communicate with the co-parent. If they just leave for two weeks with the children, that’s going to violate the other parent’s custody rights when they are supposed to make the next exchange. But if the parents talk about it in advance, they can authorize temporary changes to allow for a flexible summer schedule.
In many cases, conflicts will arise over custody schedules, and that’s when parents need to be well aware of their legal rights and their options.
