Parenting Plans
Next to child support, parenting plans are perhaps the greatest area of conflict in most dissolutions. My belief is the best approach to eliminating needless conflict is to chart out who will have the child on which dates.
The parenting plan breaks the year down to the following segments:
Preschool--Period governing years before the child attends school.
School Year--This period begins with the start of school and ends when school is out for the summer.
Winter Vacation--This period covers the winter break from school.
SpringVacation--This period covers the spreak break from school.
Vacations--Each parent should be given a continuous period of time in the Summer for vacations. This period is usually 10 days to 4 weeks.
Holidays--Each parent may be allowed to alternate traditional holidays, and/or add/delete for other holidays celebrated by the family.
Other Dates--Birthdays, Mother's Day and Father's Day are also specified in the parenting plan.
Given so many variables, it is easy to see how confusing this can sometimes be for the newly divorced parent. Prioritizing these variables is equally confusing.
There are also room for designating who has decision making
for key events or will the decision making be shared equally.
Methods to resolve disputes are also prominently featured in the parenting plan. Options include mediation and arbitration. The court prefers that the parents resolve disputes without needing to appear before the judge.