You love seeing your kids, but you know that their other parent needs to see them, too. That’s why you’re both trying to work out a fair custody schedule.
You spoke with your children, who are between the ages of 7 and 14, and they agreed that they’d like to go between homes together. That’s resolved one concern you had, but now you need to figure out what kind of custody schedule would work best for three children who may be going to different events or activities.
What are some ideas for custody schedules?
You and your ex-spouse both work on a similar schedule. You go to work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and he goes to work from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. You both have weekends free. So, one option that you may want to consider is simply switching off each week. On Friday night, for example, you could take custody of your children until Friday night the next week. Then, you’d switch. Having this kind of schedule makes it easy for parents to know that they’re responsible for their children and their activities completely that week, and there aren’t additional custody transfers to worry about.
If you don’t want to go an entire week without seeing your children, another option is to try a 3-4-4-3 schedule. It’s a little more complicated, but you would have your children spend three days with the other parent, four with you and then reverse to have them spend four days with the other parent and three with you again. This can be more complicated depending on your work schedules, but it can work for some parents.
Slightly easier is a two-day schedule. Alternating custody every two days can be a good way to stay involved with your kids, but this also means you’ll spend more time completing transfers and interacting with your ex-spouse, which is something to consider.
You and your ex-spouse need to sit down and work out which days you can or cannot be present for your children. With your work schedules, there may be times when you need babysitters or family to step in and watch your children, too. Have a good conversation about what you think will work and what definitely won’t work. Then, you can start building a custody schedule that works for everyone and guarantees that your children can interact with both parents regularly.