Are you going through a divorce? Do you have questions and concerns about raising your child or children in the future? Are you worried about keeping things in order in regard to parenting time?
There’s no denying the fact that divorce will change your life in many ways, including the way you interact with your child. While this can be a change at first, the steps you take up front will help you achieve success down the line.
Simply put, a parenting agreement has the power to change your future for the better. With this in place, you and the other parent will have a clear idea of how to raise your child, which eliminates the potential for disagreements (although these can still come into play).
Here are the types of details your parenting agreement can outline:
- With whom the child will live after the divorce
- Which parent will have legal custody over the child
- A detailed visitation schedule for the non-custodial parent
- An overview of where the child will spend holidays, vacations and birthdays
- A system for ensuring that the child can remain in contact with extended family members on both sides
Depending on your situation, you may also want to include language that touches on how to deal with changes and disputes in the future. You hope that you never have to alter your parenting agreement, but you can expect this to be necessary at some point. For example, the way you parent your child today won’t be the same in five years.
Once you come to terms on a parenting agreement in mediation, it will move to the court for final approval. While not always the case, most people find that they never have to spend time in court to finalize the agreement.
With a parenting agreement guiding you, it’s easier to know what you should and shouldn’t be doing in regard to how you raise your child after divorce.
If, for any reason, the other parent begins to violate the court approved parenting agreement, you’ll want to find out why and then consider legal action if things don’t get better.
