School’s Out For Summer: Planning Your Kids’ Vacation After Divorce

Summer vacation is about strengthening family relationships and friendships, while giving children a break from the daily grind of school. Unfortunately, the logistics of planning a summer vacation after divorce can become a lot more complicated for co-parents. Today we’ve provided you with a few tips on how to approach any problems you may encounter when trying to plan a fun summer vacation for your child this summer following a divorce.

Start Planning in Advance 

Leaving summer vacation planning until the last minute is rarely a good idea. Instead, parents should be sure to start a conversation about their summer plans earlier, before school even ends if possible. To do so, parents can use a shared calendar, co-parenting applications, or other electronic communication, which can help them remain up-to-date on their former partner’s plans. In this way, parents can avoid conflict over which dates a child will spend with which parent. Delaying a dialogue about this topic can end up jeopardizing both parents’ ability to make certain necessary plans, like buying plane tickets or making reservations. The more details two parents can agree on, the more likely it is that their child will have an opportunity for a meaningful summer vacation with both parents.

Look to Your Parenting Plan 

All parenting plans must cover certain issues, including how two parents will share time with their children during the year. Most time-sharing arrangements, for instance, include details about the times and dates that each parent will have custody of their child during the summer vacation. Others, however, leave these matters more open, so that the parties have more discretion when planning. Which route a couple chooses will depend on the parent’s relationships with each other and with their child, but in either case, it’s important for co-parents to:

• Anticipate that despite a firm summer visitation schedule, conflicts could end up arising at a later date;
• Take their child’s opinion into account, which is especially important for older children, who may wish to include their friends in their activities;
• Communicate the details of any summer vacations to the other parent as early as possible; and
• Ensure that each parent has all of the medical information, medications, or healthcare items that a child may need on the trip.

By ensuring that these details are covered in a parenting plan or at least discussed ahead of time, parents can avoid disagreements and emergencies down the road.

Call Today With Your Legal Questions and Concerns 

Even co-parents who take the greatest care when planning their summer vacations in advance could end up with questions about changing a visitation plan or enforcing a custody agreement. In these cases, you should have an experienced Fort Lauderdale child visitation and time-sharing lawyer on your side who can address your concerns and help ensure that your child’s interests are protected. For help with your own custody-related questions, please call Sandra Bonfiglio, P.A. at 954-945-7591 today. You can also schedule a meeting with us by filling out one of our online contact forms.

Sources:

psychologytoday.com/us/blog/legal-matters/202405/5-tips-for-putting-together-a-summer-custody-plan

flcourts.gov/content/download/686031/file_pdf/995a.pdf