The holidays are quite often a scheduling nightmare for parents. For large or diverse families, planning often has to begin months before the season arrives and plans have to be made clear to everyone involved. If your family is spread out across the country or around the world, this kind of coordination can be even more difficult. Add the acrimony of a divorce to the equation and holiday schedules may be impossible to make to anyone’s satisfaction. This is why we recommend agreeing on a holiday visitation schedule.
An agreed holiday schedule as part of a divorce has numerous benefits:
- First and most obvious, all parties can refer to a carefully worded document that spells out everyone’s expectations. There should be little room for interpretation or disagreement once a divorce is finalized.
- Second, you can deviate from the schedule as long as all parties to the divorce agree to do so. Life changes and you shouldn’t have to run to court every time it does. As long as the schedule change is agreed to (ideally memorialized in an email or text), there should be no reason for attorneys to get involved.
- Finally, if things get tense and communication becomes difficult, families can always revert back to the court order without incurring more legal expenses or creating more stress.
In a perfect world, families would all get along. Clearly, we don’t live in a perfect world. That’s why holiday schedules can be so helpful.
