Dust Off Your Parenting Plan, Not Just Your Backpacks for Back to School

As the summer draws to a close, the dreaded back-to-school season begins for students everywhere. Lazy days by the pool or sleeping in give way to the hectic schedule of dropoffs, pickups, extracurriculars, and, occasionally, studying and homework. For divorced parents or parents sharing custody of their children with the other parent, this seismic shift in schedule can become a visitation nightmare, especially as kids get older. Planning for the school year in advance can solve a multitude of parental headaches before they become a semester of pain.

Visitation Revisited

Parental visitation and co-parenting schedules may find themselves outdated by the time the new school year rolls around. As kids grow, so do their schedules – what may have been a perfectly reasonable visitation schedule one school year may wind up seriously in conflict with new and time-consuming extracurricular activities, such as sports or band. Weeknight practices and games, weekend competitions, out-of-state trips and camps – all of these and more will affect parenting time and potentially create conflict.

There are new pickups and dropoffs and differing responsibilities, along with the attendant desire to spend parental time that may be shortchanged as a child’s schedule changes with the new school year. Complicating matters is that a parenting plan that has been approved before the court doesn’t automatically adapt to new schedules unless that flexibility has been built in.

The Status Quo May Be a No-Go

In Kentucky, visitation and parenting schedules are drafted in accordance with KRS 403.270, which requires that the best interests of the child dictate any parenting arrangements, and that equally shared parenting time is presumed to be in the best interests of the child. Ensuring equal sharing in accordance with a prior court-approved parenting plan may be difficult or impractical in the face of a child’s developing schedule.

Early communication and discussion of these issues will stave off problems as the school year goes on. If your parenting plan hasn’t been reviewed in a while, it’s time to open it up and seek out pain points, potential conflicts, and areas that need rebalancing. This can be done with both parents, but it might need some assistance from a family law practitioner to spot issues and craft a thorough solution, especially if there’s a dispute between parents.

Turning In Your Homework

Even the most well-crafted parenting plan will need revision with changing circumstances. Your child grows and changes, and the parenting plan must change as well. Those changes should be discussed with the other parent to avoid addressing those issues in court. If the parents cannot agree, then it should then be presented to a court. Even if parents can agree on the changes, it’s still a good practice to make the changes official – that way, there’s no dispute or equivocation when a conflict arises. It’s best for both parents to have a set of rules to follow, especially with the emotional stakes that come with shifting parenting time. Approval by a court provides certainty and guidance for all parties.

Dreading the oncoming school year and worried about how band/football/theater/soccer/academic team/volleyball will cause chaos in your parenting plan? Let an experienced family law practitioner guide you to peace of mind – call us today.

Su H. Kang is a Member of McBrayer. Ms. Kang’s practice focuses primarily on family law and domestic relations, handling matters of divorce, spousal maintenance, division of debt and property, and child custody and support. She works primarily in the firm’s Louisville office and can be reached at skang@mcbrayerfirm.com or at (502) 888-1833.