Parents who are getting divorced are sometimes unsure what they should do when it comes to setting up a child custody schedule, also known as a parenting time schedule.
Fortunately, there are many different options. Parents need to consider them carefully. To get started, here are three examples that are worth considering if parents live close together. If they do not, the child’s school-related needs are likely to drive a family’s arrangements.
Alternating weeks
Perhaps most common is when parents switch back and forth every other week. If the children are in school, exchanges are usually made around 3 o’clock on a Friday. Essentially, the child just lives with one parent all week and then goes to live with the other parent after they get out of school on Friday.
Weekend vs weekday parenting time
In some cases, moving during the week is impractical or too complicated. Parents may have a setup where the child lives with one parent during the week and the other parent on the weekends. For example, one parent may live close to the school, while the other is a significant distance away.
The 2-2-3 schedule
Finally, some parents use a 2-2-3 schedule. An example of this could be a child who lives with their mother on Monday and Tuesday, their father on Wednesday and Thursday, and then their mother again on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The schedule stays the same the following week, except with the parenting time schedule flipped so that the father ends up with the children on the weekend.
If you are trying to craft a parenting time schedule, be sure you know what legal steps to take while establishing a parenting plan in ways that are both workable and enforceable over time.