Even after divorce, some parents will take summer trips together. They want to provide stability for their children, and they may be on amicable terms. Taking a trip together allows the children to experience the vacation with both parents, rather than just one.
For most parents, however, summer trips after divorce will become a one-parent affair. This can cause some issues with the established custody schedule. That’s why communication is so critical.
Shuffling the schedule
For example, say that your current custody schedule means that you trade the children back and forth every three days. Both you and your ex live relatively close to one another, so this is not hard to do.
Say that your own parents live in another state. You are hoping to fly with the kids to spend a week visiting them over the summer break. However, this would violate your ex’s rights under the custody agreement.
That does not mean you can’t go. However, you need to communicate with your ex and work out a schedule. Perhaps you have to trade other custody time, giving them a future week with the children, or maybe your ex is perfectly fine with you taking the children for an additional week.
Either way, you need to talk about it in advance. If you just decide to take the trip and ignore the custody schedule, that could be a violation of the court order and may put your own custody rights in jeopardy.
Co-parenting can get complicated, especially in the summer, and there are legal restrictions that you need to be aware of. However, there are also typically solutions that co-parents can find. It may help to have experienced legal guidance as you explore yours.