3 Tips For Successfully Negotiating Child Custody
Are you in the middle of a divorce? Divorce can be a stressful and challenging process. You and your spouse may be dividing assets, finding a new place to live, and negotiating things like spousal support. If you have children, the process can be even more complex. You likely want to make it seamless and easy for them. While divorce is rarely easy, there are steps you can take to reduce conflict and minimize stress. Below are three tips to help you and your spouse find the right custody plan.
Use visual aids. Sometimes it can be hard for each person to comprehend a custody schedule and determine if it's fair for them. Visual aids can make the negotiation easier. For instance, you and your attorney can make a calendar with each parent's days blocked off in different colors to demonstrate when each parent will have the kids. That may make it easier to understand the arrangement. There are also online custody evaluation tools that will break down your arrangement and analyze it. These tools will tell you the percentage of days the kids are with each parent and even suggest altering the plan to reach a desired split.
Use provisions. A child custody plan isn't just about which days each parent has the kids. It's also about how you communicate and what happens when changes need to be made. You can put provisions in the agreement to address these situations. Provisions can cover how and where drop-offs happen, communication about medical decisions, and even how custody may change over the holidays. One popular provision is that the other parent gets the first right of refusal for babysitting the kids. You might also have a provision for driving kids to extracurricular and sporting events, even if it's not that particular parent's day for custody. Provisions let you customize the agreement to work for each parent.
Stay calm. There may be a lot of raw and unresolved feelings in your divorce. It's very easy to let any disagreement blow up into an argument. Resist the urge to argue during your negotiations. Stay calm and stay focused on the task at hand. Arguments can derail the negotiations and lead to bad outcomes. They also waste a lot of time. You and your spouse are both likely paying attorneys for their time. If arguments extend the process, you may pay more for your divorce.
Ready to negotiate child custody? Contact a divorce lawyer today. They can help you obtain the right outcome for your family.