When it comes to child custody and visitation rights, things often go smoothly for the parents during the school year. But when the children get out for summer break, that is when they may need to make changes to their schedule.
The major reason for this is simply that parents’ work schedules may roughly fit with their child’s school schedule during the year, but now they have to consider who is going to watch the children while they are at work during the summer.
Addressing other caregivers
For one thing, parents may just handle custody obligations themselves during the school year, such as picking up the children from school or watching them in the evenings.
But over summer break, are other caregivers necessary? Will the children need to go to daycare or have a babysitter? Will grandparents or other extended family members need to watch them? Coparents need to make sure that they fully agree on who is responsible for the children.
Navigating scheduling changes
Additionally, summer may mean that parents themselves have different schedules, such as if they are planning to use vacation time, take a trip with the children and things of this nature.
Communication is important at a time like this. Coparents need to talk about how they plan to spend the summer break with their children, and they need to clear any deviations to the normal schedule in advance. A parent should not just take the children on a two-week road trip that will violate the other coparent’s custody rights, for example, without first talking to them about altering the existing schedule.
Conflict can sometimes arise over summer break, which can be stressful for coparents. It is important for them to understand all of their legal rights at this time.