Handling summer vacation when you and your spouse are divorced and have kids can be challenging. You want to do what’s right for your children by making sure someone is home to care for them, but without the school day to give you time to work or get other responsibilities taken care of, it can be challenging to set up a custody schedule that works.
Since summer is quickly approaching, now is a good time to sit down with your ex-spouse to discuss any vacation plans and if your existing custody plan still works.
Start with your basic custody time
The first thing that you should do is to start looking at your basic custody schedule. See where there are gaps so that you can set up a day camp, babysitter or other arrangements for your child during those days or hours. For example, if you and your ex-spouse cannot be available for custody from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Tuesday to Thursday, then you’ll want to find some kind of arrangement for your child’s care during those times.
Talk about vacations
Some parents take a vacation during the summer break to make custody arrangements easier. For instance, if you have two weeks of vacation available, you might take them the week before school starts, and the week it lets out, so you have time to adjust to a new custody schedule. You may ask your co-parent to take another few weeks so that there are fewer days where you have to schedule a third party to watch your child.
Talk about summer break now, so you can find a custody arrangement that works. It might take time to figure one out, which is why you need to do so before your child stops going to school. An attorney can help you with negotiations if you two reach an impasse.
