Your time-sharing agreement with your ex-spouse is one of the most important things to follow in your child’s life post-divorce. In New York, parents with joint physical custody must create a parenting plan that outlines how their child will share time between its parents. Reasonable time-sharing is when a set of parents cooperate when creating their time-sharing agreements as they go.
How Does Reasonable Time-Sharing Work?
Reasonable time-sharing is used mainly by parents who share custody of their children and can co-parent and communicate peacefully with each other. Reasonable time-sharing can mean that the parents create their time-sharing agreement, or they can adjust their agreement informally as they go. The time-sharing decisions will be made based on your child’s best interests.
Why Reasonable Time-Sharing?
Reasonable time-sharing makes it flexible for parents to change dates based on business trips, vacations, busy periods, or what their child desires. For some families, reasonable time-sharing makes it easier to plan their lives around instead of having set dates that visitation is required. Most importantly, reasonable time-sharing can be based on the child’s needs at the time and their activities, making it easier for the parents to consider their time-sharing in relation to their child’s life.
Reasonable time-sharing also makes it simple for parents to co-parent since they’ll already communicate about time-sharing dates and what is going on with their child. However, a key to reasonable time-sharing is the ability to remain friendly with your child’s other parent. If you are unable to remain friendly and collaborate with your child’s other parent, you may not be able to continue this reasonable time-sharing arrangement.
What If My Reasonable Time-Sharing Agreement Isn’t Working?
If you are unable to communicate effectively with your child’s other parent, your reasonable time-sharing agreement may fail. For reasonable time-sharing agreements to thrive, both parents need to agree on time-sharing arrangements with your child. In the case of a failing reasonable time-sharing agreement, you will need to seek a child custody agreement modification to create a set time-sharing schedule. The set schedule may resolve conflict about time-sharing and limit future conflicts, which will ultimately benefit your child.
If you are undergoing a child custody case in your Long Island divorce and need guidance on your custody agreement, call our experienced Garden City child custody attorneys at (516) 688-0088 to schedule a case consultation.