We are seeing more sunshine during the day, water ice openings, and traffic to the shore. It must be summertime! Although summer brings excitement and joy, it also means the loss of school-provided childcare and other issues concerning parenting time and the children’s expenses. If you are divorcing or resolving custody and parenting time issues, it is essential to address issues that will arise in the summer months.

Childcare

One of the first issues to consider in advance of the summer months is childcare. You and your co-parent may elect to utilize summer camps in the summer months for work-related care. As these programs can fill up quickly, you want to have these discussions and make selections with your co-parent during the school year. The most significant issue with selecting summer camps is often the cost. Generally, the costs of summer camps are shared in proportion to the parents’ respective incomes. There are financial aid and grants available for summer programs, so it is important to communicate with your co-parent to select a program and determine the costs in advance. As always, a comprehensive custody and parenting time agreement that addresses summer camps will alleviate most co-parenting issues.

Parenting Time 

The summer also presents an excellent opportunity to spend time with the children in unique parenting situations. For example, if one parent lives out of state, the summer months and school breaks may be the only time the out-of-state parent can exercise parenting time.  In other words, the summer months may present a creative opportunity to resolve parenting time issues. Do not overlook them when addressing parenting time agreements.

Travel and Vacations

Summer is also the most convenient time to enjoy travel and vacations with your children. However, traveling with the children comes with its own set of issues. The best way to avoid potential conflict over travel is by clearly setting forth obligations and parameters with respect to vacation time in your agreement. The first issue you want to address is the length of time each parent can exercise vacation time with the children. You also want to consider whether or not you want the time, most commonly two weeks, to be consecutive or non-consecutive. You also want there to be language to avoid scheduling issues. You may elect to set a specific deadline such as May 1^st, or you may elect a certain period of notice such as 30 days. To avoid overlap, the most common practice is to designate even and odd years as one parent’s first choice year. Finally, you want your agreement to require the other parent to provide an itinerary and emergency contact.  

If you already have a comprehensive agreement in place, take the time to re-read your agreement before the summer begins. You do not want to miss an opportunity to exercise vacation time with the children because a deadline was missed.