Spending time with your children during the holidays
The Thanksgiving thru New Year holidays may seem a ways off, but now is the time to work out any disputes over where your children will spend the school break and/or holidays. Waiting to the last minute can often mean that nothing can be done to enforce your Parenting Plan rights this year. It usually takes at least 3 weeks or more to get into court, if you must get a court order to resolve a dispute. Many Parenting Plans include a dispute resolution section that requires mediation or other vehicle for dealing with differences in opinion regarding the language in your order.
Often times a Parenting Plan is signed by a court when the children are quite young. As they get older, it may be more difficult to enforce provisions for visitation that better applied to little kids. Sometimes the parents move on with their lives. New spouses, children from a new relationship, or someone has moved out of the area. Each of these problems can be resolved, but someone needs to take the initiative to get the Parenting Plan updated.
More often than not, the parents can work thru their issues and agree on changes to the Parenting Plan. In this situation, it important to do more than agree. A new Parenting Plan needs to be drafted and entered with the court. If you just leave the changes an informal agreement, it can be very difficult to enforce the agreement at a later date.
When the parents cannot agree on changes to the Parenting Plan, it may be necessary to ask a court to make the changes. This does not have to be a major battle, but either way, a court will consider your issues and render an order.
A properly drafted Parenting Plan can be tailored to the specific needs of your family. There really isn’t a “one size fits all” approach that is likely to address your needs and issues. Taking the time to talk to a family law attorney can help you understand what your realistic options are, and how to best achieve them at a reasonable cost.
