If you have children and are in the middle of a divorce or planning to file for Michigan divorce, your journey will include a lengthy discussion about child custody and parenting time. Summertime is a hot-button topic when it comes to getting time with the kids and there are many elements to consider as your divorce settlement is finalized.
Determining Summer Parenting Time in Macomb County
In Macomb County, there is a general parenting time schedule that serves as a jumping-off point for most couples to begin their negotiations. When it comes to summer parenting time:
- Both parents get a total of three weeks with only two consecutive weeks.
- Summer parenting time dates must be exchanged with the other parent by May 15 or risk choosing alternate weeks than what was originally desired.
- The regular parenting time schedule is followed at all other times. This includes weekend parenting time, which is every other weekend from 6 p.m. on Friday until 8 p.m. on Sunday, and weekday parenting time, which is one night per week from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
- On the Fourth of July, the father has parenting time in even-numbered years and the mother in odd-numbered years.
Ultimately, the court decides what is in the best interests of the child. Divorcing parents have plenty of time to put together a parenting time plan that works with their schedules, their daily life, and the lives of their children. After all, kids have social lives, too. No reason to make those obligations more difficult for all involved.
Thinking Ahead for Summer Parenting Time
All the choices you make during your divorce will affect your children, for better or worse. It can be hard to see past your present situation, but you will be forced to think ahead for your kids and about your kids’ schedules, whether they’re toddlers or teenagers.
In summer, school is out, and freedom is in. You don’t want your kid to feel like he or she is in shackles shuffling between two parents’ homes for their precious handful of weeks away from the classroom. Plus, they have their own things going on – playdates or group dates, sleepaway camp or summer school, summer jobs or study abroad. Making it all work isn’t easy.
You can’t predict the future, and accommodations will need to be made along the way to account for changes to lifestyle and kids’ activities and goals, but while you’re pulling together all the details of your divorce settlement it helps to think about what will be most convenient for all of you. Parenting time is not the time to spite your ex – you’ll suffer too, and so will your kids. If there is one place you can be generous, make it this place.
How Summer Parenting Can Work After a Divorce
In modern households where both parents work but divorce comes to pass, joint physical custody is usually typical and parenting time is usually equitable, even though it can be more complex than divorces of decades ago. Creative arrangements are the norm and can be varied to suit both parties. Most couples work toward having an even number of overnights every month, which works out to about 182 overnights annually.
To get the child custody and summer parenting time arrangement you want, make an appointment with an experienced Michigan divorce lawyer. Contact the family law attorneys at Michigan Divorce Help in Macomb, MI, to discuss your situation today.