As you create a parenting time schedule, you want to make something that is fair for both parents and that gives you the most possible time with your children. With Custody X Change, you can easily calculate a schedule that maximizes the time you have with your children without upsetting the other parent. You can do this by:
- Using the timeshare calculations to see how much time each parent has with the children,
- Making a good holiday schedule,
- Including summer breaks and vacation time in your schedule,
- Choosing the right exchange times,
- Examining the uses of 3rd party time, and
- Picking the right start date for your schedule.
As you make a parenting time schedule using Custody X Change, the software displays the timeshare percentage that each parent has with the children. While making your schedule, you can look at the numbers to see how much time you really have with the children and you can experiment with different schedules to see how the percentage changes. This tool alone allows you set up a schedule that gives you fair parenting time.
Tip 1: "How Holidays Can Balance Visitation Time"
Tip 2: "Making the Most of Holidays"
Custody X Change makes it easy to experiment with holiday schedules so that you can use the holidays to increase the time you have with your children. The software lets you choose holidays that aren't already in your scheduled parenting time, and it allows you to include smaller holidays into your schedule so that you can spend them with your children.
Choose holidays that aren't in your scheduled parenting time. When you set up your schedule in the software, you first choose a residential schedule. Once this is in place, you can quickly look through the schedule to see what holidays fall into your already allotted visitation time. You can then assign yourself the holidays where you don't have the children, and you can assign the other parent holidays where they already have the children.
By carefully assigning the holidays between the parents, you can increase the time you have with your children. As you set up your holiday schedule, you'll be able to see the timeshare percentage that each parent has with the children. This can help you maximize your time.
Remember the smaller holidays and make them last. Most parents remember to put the big holidays into their schedule (Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc.) but you can also include smaller holidays like Columbus Day, Veterans Day, etc. In your schedule, include as many holidays as possible so that you can have more time with the children. You can include religious holidays, national holidays, and school holidays.
When you schedule your holidays, make them last as long as possible. Some holidays make sense as weekend time, and you can try to get the entire weekend. For other holidays, you can make pick-up times sooner and drop-off times later.
Tip 3: "Getting Your Own Summer Break"
Tip 4: "Lower Child Support with this Visitation Approach"
Scheduling the right kind of summer break and vacation time is an easy and fair way to increase your time with the children.
Summer and school breaks: during the school year, children will usually live with one parent so that there is more consistency. When children are on school break in the summer (and for other school holidays) you don't have to stick to the same schedule. With Custody X Change, you can set up different schedules for school breaks and have them applied to your schedule. This is an easy way to spend more time with your children.
Unspecified vacations: an unspecified vacation is a period of time set aside in a visitation plan for one parent or the other without any specific dates attached. Usually, an unspecified vacation allows for a parent to take the children for a week or two during the year for vacation. When the parent wants to use the unspecified vacation, they give the other parent notice. Custody X Change allows you to add unspecified vacations into your parenting time schedule.
Specified vacations and special events: if you know the specific dates that you want to take the children on vacation, you can always schedule that right into the calendar. Custody X Change allows you to add blocks of time for either parent and label them so you are guaranteed to have some vacation time with your child. You can also add smaller vacations by adding in some overnight special events if you don't have a weeklong vacation planned.
Tip 5: "Graduate from the School of Savings"
When it comes to showing where a child is when the child isn't with either parent (like when the child is at school or day care) you have three options:
- Assign the 3rd party time to one parent,
- Divide the 3rd party time between both parents, or
- Assign 3rd party time to a 3rd party.
How you decide to assign 3rd party time depends on how you want the timeshare percentage calculation to look. Here are some things to think about when examining 3rd party time:
- If you want the other parent to think they have a lot of time with the children, you can assign all of the 3rd party time to him/her and they will have a high timeshare percentage.
- Custody X Change allows you to enter in 3rd party time if you want a completely accurate timeshare percentage for both parents.
- You can divide the 3rd party time equally between both parents if you want a fair accurate timeshare percentage and the court won't let you submit a schedule with 3rd party time.
- You can give yourself some of the 3rd party time if you want your timeshare percentage to be higher.
- You can include in your schedule the option for a parent to take 3rd party time (take the child from day care or other child care) if he/she can, and this way you can get some extra time with your child.
Tip 6: "Make Every Minute Add Up (in Your Bank Account)"
Often, when parents make a schedule by hand they pick exchange times to be on the hour because that is simple. However, when you make a schedule with Custody X Change, you can easily set the exchange times for whatever you want. This means that you can lengthen every visit by a half hour to an hour if you adjust the exchange time.
So, instead of having a visit every week from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm, you can schedule a visit for 3:30 pm to 8:30 pm, or 3:45 pm to 8:15 pm. Because you can be so specific with the software, you can get some extra time with your child and you can also know the exact time you have with your child.
Tip 7: "For the Best Finish, Pick the Right Start"
The start and end date of your schedule can make a difference in the amount of time you have with the children. With Custody X Change, you can experiment with the options of what date to start your schedule (most courts will let you choose any start date that you want) and look at the timeshare percentage to see what date will give you the most time with your children. This is an easy and simple way to make sure that you have the maximum time with your children.