Planning vacations with your children

Although summer may still seem far away, the time passes quickly, and you may already be thinking of your vacation plans. Summer vacations can be an important family tradition, but they become much more challenging when a custody order is in place. While a parenting time or visitation schedule will usually make specific provisions for summer vacations, many people are not aware of the specifics.

Understanding your custody order and visitation schedule is very important. It’s common for the noncustodial parent to have the opportunity to have a few weeks of uninterrupted time with the children for vacation in the summers. However, there are usually stipulations on how many weeks at a time can be taken concurrently. You are usually also required to give notice to the other parent of the intent to exercise this time.

In many cases, the notice required is considerable. You may need to let the other parent know of your intent to take the children for a vacation weeks and even months ahead of time. Usually, if you do not provide the specified notice, the custodial parent is not legally required to turn over the children.

If you are unsure of what your custody order or visitation schedule says about summer vacations or opportunities for extended parenting time, it’s important to talk to a family law attorney as soon as possible. Doing so allows you to get a better understanding of your parenting plan in general. It also ensures that you are able to give the other parent the correct amount of notice and move forward with your summer vacation plans as intended.