After a divorce, co-parents will often have designated parenting days. These are the days when they have physical custody of the children. Parents may share legal custody, meaning that they have to work together to make decisions, but they split up their parenting days and take turns with the physical responsibilities.
In many cases, parents assume that these days should be perfectly even. In a month with 30 days, each parent should have exactly 15 days with the children. It is certainly possible for the court to set things up this way, but that’s not necessarily how it works in all cases.
Examining numerous factors
The reality is that every divorce case is unique. The situation that each parent faces after the divorce is also unique. The court has to look at a lot of different factors to figure out what will actually work in their situation and what arrangement would have a focus on the child’s best interests.
For example, perhaps one parent is a member of the military, a business professional who has to travel overseas, or a professional athlete or entertainer. Because they have irregular work hours and a nontraditional schedule, a perfectly even split of parenting days is impossible.
This doesn’t mean that the co-parents can’t share custody, of course. They still can, but they may need a unique schedule where the parent who travels less frequently has the children for the majority of the time, and the parent who travels often takes over more parenting time when they’re home and able to do so.
Because these cases are unique, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and it’s very important to understand all of your rights when setting up a parenting schedule.
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