What do the holidays mean for your custody arrangement?
While the holidays are supposed to be the happiest time of year, unfortunately for split families it is simply a time of headache, heartache and conflict. Dreams of holidays gathered around the Thanksgiving table or the Christmas tree as one big happy family have drifted from view and co-parents are left to navigate the waters of time and involvement. Custody is one of the messiest parts of most divorces, and the holidays only highlight those battles.
Making Your Holiday Visitation Schedule
There are plenty of ways to divide time between parents. It’s hard and takes compromise and communication. This is another facet of why it is so important to have good legal representation when settling your divorce. There are some common ways that parents divide and share holiday time:
Alternate holidays every other year: You can assign holidays to each parent for even years and then swap the holidays in odd years. With this arrangement, you won't miss spending a holiday with your child more than one year in a row.
Split the holiday in half: You can split the day of the holiday so that your child spends part of the day with each parent. This arrangement requires planning and coordination because you don't want your child to spend holidays traveling all day.
Schedule a holiday twice: You can schedule time for each parent to celebrate a holiday with your child. For example, one parent can celebrate Christmas with the child on Dec. 20th and the other parent on the 25th.
Assign fixed holidays: You can have each parent celebrate the same holidays with the child every year. If parents have different holidays that they think are important, each parent can have those holidays every year.[1]
Using any combination of the above ideas will allow your child(ren) to enjoy family traditions and spend quality time making memories with both parents.
No perfect solution
Most often there is no perfect solution that leaves everyone happy, or that they got enough time with their child. Split holidays are one of the heartbreaking realities of divorce. Talking to your legal counsel about these issues when settling your divorce is imperative to a successful outcome.
[1] https://www.custodyxchange.com/examples/holidays/