By: Kristen Halliden
BleekeDillonCrandall
Divorced parents – the holidays are fast approaching and you need to start thinking about parenting time. Always take a look at your court order first and comply with what has been ordered in your case. If your court order specifies Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines make sure you read your copy of the Guidelines and figure out what the schedule is going to be. Let your ex-spouse know via email and make sure that there are no misunderstandings. Give the kids a heads up too so that they know what to expect on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (or whatever other special holidays your Order provides for: Hanukkah, Kwaanza, etc.).
If your Court order does not specify parenting time as to holidays then make sure you and your ex-spouse have a written agreement in place. Do this via email – not texts so that everyone is on the same page. If you can’t agree now, you may need to think about filing a Petition with the Court to determine holiday parenting time.
If you both agree to deviate from the Court order or from the Guidelines, you should write up a very brief agreement and file it with the Court so that there will never be a question of one parent “withholding” the children from the other. If you don’t want your attorneys to draft the agreement, write up a simple paragraph that you both sign and date and file it with the Court yourself.
Holidays are rough enough and you do not want to add to the stress by having arguments over who will spend what time with the kids. Remember, the holidays are a magical time for children and we want to keep it that way for them!
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