When you divorce while you still have children at home, you and your ex have to figure out how to share parenting time. Time-sharing is the legal term in Florida for shared custody arrangements.
Typically, time-sharing requires that parents share responsibility for the day-to-day care of the children and parenting time and access on special days, like holidays and birthdays. Will you have to accept that you will only get to see the children every other Christmas and every other year for their birthday after a Florida divorce?
There are many ways for parents to share custody on special days
Your family can create unique solutions for sharing custody on special days. The rotating or alternating holiday schedule is a common solution applied by parents who share custody after a divorce. One parent has the children for Thanksgiving, the other for Christmas. They will have the children for the opposite holidays the next year.
Your family might decide to let one parent take all the holidays one year with the other one taking all the holidays the next. You might even try to split the days themselves, with one parent spending the morning and early afternoon with the children and the other spending the evening and night with them.
In scenarios where you and your ex maintain an amicable relationship, you might even consider having everyone together for holiday and birthday celebrations because that will help the children feel like they are still part of a cohesive family unit.
Considering all of the ways you can share custody on special days can make it easier for your family to navigate the complications of shared parenting time.
