If you have just started the process of making a custody and visitation schedule, you may be wondering about different custody arrangements that work for various situations. Knowing some common visitation arrangements can help you decide what to do for your child and your situation. To give you some ideas, this post will look at common arrangements that people use for different parts of the custody and visitation schedule. Hopefully this can give you a starting point and you can adapt your schedule and arrangements to fit your child.
The Repeating Cycle
The repeating cycle is the first building block of your custody schedule. The repeating cycle you choose to use depends very much on whether you have joint or sole custody. Common sole custody arrangements include: visitation with the non-custodial parent every weekend, visitation with the non-custodial parent every other weekend, visitation with the non-custodial parent a few times during the week and on various weekends, etc. Common joint custody arrangements include: alternating custody every other week, alternating custody every two weeks, a 2-2-5-5 schedule, a 3-3-4-4 schedule, etc.
Vacations and School Breaks
A very common custody arrangement when your children are in school is to set up separate schedules for the school year and the summer break. Often, parents find that it is easier to have the child live primarily with one parent during the school year, so they give more time to the other parent during school breaks. Parents also usually include time for the mother and father to take the child on vacation during the year.
Holidays
A very important part of figuring out visitation arrangements is coming up with a plan for holidays. Most parents include a separate holiday schedule in their custody agreement that takes priority over the repeating cycle of custody. You can divide holiday time in a few different ways. Some parents like to give the entire holiday to one parent and then alternate the holidays. Other parents like to split the actually holiday in half and give both parents some of the day. You can also use a combination of these.
As you take some of these suggestions and look at your own schedule, you can adapt them to meet your needs. Custody X Change is a great program to use as you come up with your child custody arrangements because you get a clear visual of how the time is being divided, and you can also see the exact time-share percentage that each parent has with the children. This can help you make the best schedule for your child and for the parents.