Alternating Weeks in Your Custody Plan
Some co-parents may choose to go with a more simplistic route when choosing a custody plan that works for them. Not all co-parents can accommodate a 50/50 time split, but if you can then alternating weeks in your custody plan is simple and easy. As with all custody plans it’s definitely not perfect. There are both benefits and drawbacks to alternating weeks in your custody plan that must all be taken into consideration when choosing the best custody plan for your own family.
Benefits of alternating weeks in your custody plan
Alternating weeks in your custody plan creates consistent and repeating schedules. Repeating schedules often allow both co-parents and their child to quickly get into a routine, which will make the transition from how their lives used to be easier on them.
Some co-parents have even switched to two-week alternating schedules because they like the consistency, the extended periods with their child, and the extended breaks from caring for their child.
Transition of the children from one co-parent to the other should be quick and easy. With a more confusing schedule, it may be more difficult for the co-parents and children to keep track of when they are supposed to switch between co-parents. By alternating weeks in your custody plan this is simple and straightforward.
Drawbacks of alternating weeks in your custody plan
Alternating weeks in your custody plan means that your child must go one whole week before they can see your other co-parent. This may be fine for some children but for others it is way too long. Typically this depends on age. Children in their early to late teens may be able to handle alternating weeks in your custody plan better than younger children. It is actually extremely important for younger children to see each co-parent often because it can affect their growth and development. Parents who adopt a two-week alternating schedule may be at an even higher risk because the separation is twice as long.
Special events such as holidays and extracurricular activities can pose problems when scheduling. These events should have already been divided between you and your co-parent in your parenting plan, but if you have the child for the week and your co-parent has the child for a holiday on Tuesday this is cutting into your visitation time. You may have to make up for this lost time somehow or simply sacrifice this time.
Sometimes co-parents will add their own variations to alternating week schedules. They may choose to give the non-custodial parent for that week one evening during the week. If this is not enough, some parents have turned this one evening into an overnight visit. Typically, co-parents will still refer to this as an alternating week schedule simply because for the most part it is, except for the single night that the child spends with the non-custodial parent. If the custody plan begins to become more complicated than that, it may turn into a different type of alternating schedule.
The OurFamilyWizard website® has been helping co-parents organize and manage their custody schedules for years with tools and resources like the custody calendar and the expense log. For more information on how the OurFamilyWizard website® can help with alternating weeks in your custody plan please visit the Joint Custody/Shared Custody page.
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