With the school year quickly coming to an end, there’s no better time than now to plan a summer vacation with your children. While this sounds easy enough, you could run into custody-related challenges if you and your ex-spouse aren’t on the same page in regard to your trip.
Here are three steps you can take to prevent a summer vacation dispute with your ex:
- Talk about it early on: Don’t wait until the last minute to plan a vacation, but instead, get all the details in order as quickly as you can. Once you discuss the trip, you should then stick to the schedule that’s in place.
- Review your custody agreement: It’s possible that your custody or visitation agreement has some type of limitation, such as not being permitted to leave the country or state with your children.
- Let your children stay in touch: Not only will this make your ex feel better about the trip, but it will put your children at ease as well. From texts to phone calls to video chat, there’s no point in cutting off communication between your children and your ex. Doing so will raise stress levels for everyone involved.
If you find yourself in the middle of a summer vacation dispute with your ex, take a step back while both of you cool down. From there, revisit the discussion when it makes sense to do.
In the event that your ex continues to put up a fight, review your parenting plan and custody agreement with the idea of protecting your legal rights.
