every other weekendis perhaps the best known and most widely used child custody program. But other parenting plans may be better for children since they can see their parents frequently.
Some of the best alternatives for this particular routine include 70/30 and 60/40 retention systems. But the ideal program always depends on the case.every other weekendis particularly suitable for older children whose parents live separately.
problems withCustody every other weekendtimeline
Eevery other weekendSchedule means you have one custodial parent and one noncustodial (or occasional) parent. A child lives with one parent and visits the other parent every other weekend. Parental responsibility is also generally greater during school holidays, which can be split 50/50.
The biggest problem with easy.every other weekendThe schedule is the interval between regular visits to the secondary caregiver, which is usually the father. Even if that parent picks up the child for a visit from school on Friday afternoon and drops them off on Monday morning, it will be more than 11 days before the next "other weekend" begins. This long absence happens fortnightly.
Routinely spending more than 11 days without a parent obviously strains the parent-child relationship. The father is rarely there for unexpected life events. And they cannot effectively guide the child in everyday life. While digital and other forms of communication can help bridge the separation gap, the noncustodial parent is often absent and may have limited influence over a child's upbringing.
If you can goevery other weekend
Given the cost of the relationship, really aevery other weekendThe schedule is best only when the parents live far apart. The distance makes regular trips between houses impractical. In particular, the daily trip to school with the child takes up a lot of time from the parents' distant home.
A different custody arrangement should be considered if the longest travel time between home and school is less than, for example, an hour. While there are no hard and fast rules, a maximum travel time of less than an hour leaves room for at least one additional evening visit to fit into the fortnightly schedule.
Terminology
A long weekend or bank holiday consists ofthree consecutive overnight stays with a parenton Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If the school is involved, the child is usually picked up after school on Friday afternoon and returned to school on Monday morning. Otherwise, without a school, a standard pickup/drop-off time can be used, e.g. B. 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. M. on every trading day.
Long weekends are preferred for older children as this reduces travel costs and means parents do not have to be in contact with each other. For toddlers and preschoolers, a Saturday night visit may be preferred to give one parent weekend time without an extended absence from the other parent.
For school-age children, an alternative to the long weekend is for the child to return on the Sunday evening before school starts. This can be helpful when one parent lives much closer to the school than the other. The two night week arrangement (Friday and Saturday) can be taken as standard when long weekends or bank holidays do not apply.
Custody refers to the time a child spends with one parent.A parental schedule or calendar details physical custody arrangements.
a father withprimary physical custodybe responsible for the day-to-day care of one or more children the vast majority (let's say 65% or more) of the time.
common physical guardit simply means that a child regularly spends time with both parents. The percentage of time spent with each parent can be equal or unbalanced.
shared physical custodyimplies a balanced arrangement in which both parents take on at least 35% of the care of one or more children. The 50/50 and 60/40 custody programs are examples of shared custody.
sole custodyit means that a child is programmed to spend all of their time with one parent. The time they spend with a parent can be zero or left to the discretion of the parent having custody in consultation with the other parent.
A co-parent is a parent who is raising a child with the other parent, the parentseparated, divorced or not in a loving relationship.
Ideally, when the parents are not together, they form a co-parenting relationship and share responsibility for the upbringing of their child or children. A visitation plan included in a parenting plan details how a child sees their parents on a regular basis.
The absence of co-parenting implies the absence of at least one parent in the child's daily life. Parents' time may be limited to vacations, for example, or worse, parents and children rarely, if ever, spend time together.
An every other weekend custody agreement where a child spends 2 or 3 nights out of 14 with one parent would hardly constitute co-parenting. In this case, one parent has the primary responsibility for day-to-day care.
Examples of a 70/30 retention plan
A slightly more balanced arrangement thaneveryIt is aChild care hours 70/30. The 70%/30% time split means a child will spend 4 nights out of 14 with a parent occasionally. This is in addition to the maximum of 3 nights every two weeks under aevery other weekendCalendar.
A. 2 out of 3 weekends
Especially if distance is an issue, parents might consider agreeing on atwo out of three weekendsCustody Agreement. The child lives with one parent but only spends every third weekend with that parent (usually the mother). The child only visits the other parent on weekends, but twice out of every three.
B. Every other weekend plus one Monday
A small variation inevery other weekendThe program consists of adding a Monday visit to the secondary caregiver on the Monday after the weekend when they do not have the child(ren). The extra visit on Monday breaks the long period that the child or children would not see the parents.
C. Two night weekend plus Thursday and Monday
For younger children, another good 70/30 option is to have a 2-day visit with an occasional parent every other weekend. It could be Friday and Saturday nights together, or Saturday and Sunday nights. Add Thursday and Monday visits to the schedule alongside the 2-night weekend visit.
Care times 65/35 and 60/40
Additional nights with the non-custodial parent may be added to the program to provide more balance. Five nights every fortnight is a 65/35 schedule and six nights is a 60/40 schedule. And of course seven nights is 50/50. All of these schedules can be viewed as joint custody, joint parenting, and co-parenting, meaning you don't have one "non-custodial" parent as such, but two co-parents.
A. Every other weekend plus Thursday and Monday
A slight variation on Schedule C above is to make the Friday to Monday morning weekend a 3 night long weekend. This results in a 65/35 stay schedule: every other weekend plus Thursdays and Mondays,
B. Every other weekend plus Wednesday, Thursday and Monday
One ofpopular 60/40 schedulesconsists of a 3 night weekend with the child's guardian, followed by visits on Wednesday and Thursday evenings and the following Monday. This 60/40 custody system is very balanced and relies on co-parents living in close proximity to the school.
We can do better than a two week weekend visit
The calendars shown here are just an excerpt from the variety of escrow agreements that are superiorevery other weekend. Both offer a better balance and, particularly, involve the less caring parent more closely in their child's life.
Coparenting has been shown to have many benefits for children. And family law often emphasizes the importance of the primary caregiver.foster a meaningful relationshipbetween your child and the other parent.
Perhaps the only major obstacle to using these alternative schedules is that the parents live far away. So the message for separated parents is to try to live reasonably close together. That way, your child can enjoy the benefits of seeing their parents often.
FAQs
What is the best child custody arrangement? ›
Shared custody is the best arrangement – for some families. It's not best for every family. However, for families who are able to have shared custody, they consider it the best arrangement because it allows children to have frequent and continuing contact with both parents.
Why do fathers only get every other weekend? ›The alternating weekends schedule was established in order to give both parents the opportunity to spend time with their child on weekends.
What age is best for week on week off custody? ›The maturity of each child, in addition to the bond between the child and each parent, are just as important as age. Our attorneys have seen 7 year olds handle a week on / week off schedule better than some 11 year old kids. With that being said, one blanket approach won't be beneficial for all.
What percent is every other weekend? ›Alternating Weekends (Extended)
Time-share percentages are 79% for the custodial parent and 21% for the non-custodial parent, not including holidays or special occasions. This arrangement often works for non-custodial parents who have a demanding weekday work schedule and/or travel frequently.
On the national average, a female parent is granted around 65% of custody time, whereas a male parent receives around 35%. However, in recent years, more fathers have become custodial parents, with the percentage increasing from 16% in 1994 to 20.1% in 2018.
How often should dad see toddler? ›While there's no one-size-fits-all routine, a typical visitation schedule may include: Overnights every other weekend. One weeknight visit or overnight per week. An extended visit during the summer, such as two to six weeks.