Georgia family law judges want to ensure your children remain at the forefront of divorce and custody decisions. A parenting plan is one document that the court requires all parents to file before their divorce becomes final.
A parenting plan aims to lay out your idea of what co-parenting looks like in the future. Consider the following elements when trying to devise a plan that works for your unique situation.
When will the children spend time with you?
The heart of any parenting plan is the visitation or parenting time divided between you and your former spouse. In this schedule, you and your spouse should come to terms with the days and nights the children will spend with each of you. You should account for holidays and special occasions, such as birthdays and summer vacations. While you can divide time evenly, it does not always work that way, especially if you or your spouse do not have a job that allows for this.
How will changes occur?
If you and your spouse do not have a contentious proceeding, you may want to account for schedule deviations by phone call or text message. However, this one-to-one method is not always possible for some couples, especially in the immediate aftermath of a divorce. In these instances, having a third party, such as an attorney, act as the conveyor of schedule change requests may work better to keep things civil for the children.
A parenting plan should lay the groundwork for how you and your spouse will remain effective and present parents. If you can, try to reach an agreement without the judge having to do it.
