![]()
Most school-age children are either back in Bergen County classrooms or almost ready to start the school year. This is a time of adjustment for students and parents as the weather turns cooler and days are more regimented. Parenting time for
divorced parents during vacation months may be more flexible than during school time. The fall, winter and spring months for children can include all sorts of deadlines due to homework, sports commitments and extracurricular activities. Parents must participate for children to live up to these mandatory and self-imposed obligations. Custodial parents traditionally have carried the bulk of daily responsibilities toward children during school time. A non-custodial parent typically shifts back into a once-a-week, every-other-weekend visitation pattern. Today’s
custody arrangements and parenting plans don’t have to be structured this way. Parenting time and physical child custody may be shared equally or in any proportion that serves the best interests of the children. Judges want Hackensack parents to create custody agreements, preferably without a court order, that include a lot of face time between children and both parents. This increased physical contact gets a non-custodial parent more involved in the way children are raised. Married parents know how complicated schedules can be when schools are in session. Chauffeuring children, meeting with teachers and attending practices, games, concerts and plays is time intensive. A parenting time agreement can outline how divorced parents share these responsibilities. Complicated parenting schedules are easier to manage for parents willing to set aside personal differences and cooperate for the children’s benefit. However, compromises between parents sometimes aren’t possible. In that case, a judge may have to make a visitation or child custody decision.
ATTORNEY CARRIE SCHULTZ DISCUSSES PARENTING TIME
A
family law attorney can help ex-spouses and unmarried parents customize visitation and custody agreements and avoid unnecessary court-related costs. Lawyers also can provide guidance when issues like parental relocation challenge the terms of an existing agreement.
Source: NJ.com, “
How to address back-to-school concerns for divorced parents,” Victoria Dalton, South Jersey Times, Aug. 22, 2015
