Consider This When Making Your Florida Parenting Plan

If you and your ex-spouse can work together and come to peaceful agreement on important issues, you could be excellent candidates for shared 50-50 parenting plan arrangements.

These days, Florida courts are eager to support parents in creating 50-50 plan arrangements so that their children can benefit from spending as much time as possible with both parents.

Parenting plans and time-sharing schedules

Every Florida shared parenting plan will require a time-sharing schedule. This schedule will show when your child will be with each parent. Here’s what the time-schedule needs to include:

• A schedule for each day of the week and where the child will be, and which parent will be responsible for the child.
• A schedule for holidays that says who the child will spend each holiday with.
• A schedule for summer breaks showing how the parent will be cared for when out of school.

What to think about when making your parenting arrangements

When you’re negotiating your parenting arrangements with your spouse, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind:

• Florida family law courts prefer it when you and your ex can work together to choose a schedule that you like.
• Your schedule should work to give as much contact between both parents and your child.
• Your child’s age can affect how long and frequent his or her visits should be.
• It’s best to keep your kids together during time-sharing and visits.

If you and your spouse cannot come to an agreement on your parenting schedule, a Florida family law court will decide the issue for you. You may therefore wish to keep decisions under your control. This is added motivation to work diplomatically with the other parent.

Fortunately, a variety of tools — such as mediation — are available to help parents reach successful accord when they’re negotiating parenting plan arrangements. By staying true to the best interests of your children during all of your parenting plan discussions, you and your spouse will be well on your way to coming to a long-term, workable child custody solution.