Holidays in the Context of Child Custody Orders
With the holidays around the corner – Thanksgiving and Christmas – many parents naturally wonder: will I be able to have my child for at least one of these critical holidays? The answer, as is usual when it comes to the law, is that things depend on the provisions of your child custody order granted by the court. More precisely, the definite answer depends on the terms of your child custody order, but co-parents can also privately work out arrangements to avoid one parent having the child or children for both holidays, something which most people would concur is not a fair situation.
From the standpoint of the law on child custody, holidays are not really “special” in the sense that the law does not impose regulations against one parent monopolizing holiday time. This is why, as we will discuss further, it is essential that you address holiday time specifically in your formal court order on child custody.
Holidays Should Be Specifically Addressed to Avoid Custody Issues
Child custody orders develop consistent routines or schedules with respect to both legal and physical custody. A co-parent who has physical custody is referred to as the primary physical custodian (though the term varies from place to place). When parents develop arrangements for physical custody, the main focus is typically on creating a consistent rotation so that the custody best harmonizes with their professional schedules. Consequently, holiday time is commonly overlooked, and this later creates issues between the parents. Because consistency is such a key point when creating schedules, one parent is frequently in line to have the child or children during most or all major holidays – Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fourth of July, etc. If, for instance, the parents exchange physical custody every other week, this can easily lead to a monopolization of holiday time by one parent simply because of the randomness of how holidays land on the calendar.
All this adds up to a crucial insight: you need to expressly address holiday time in your formal court order on custody. If you are someone who needs to have your child or children during a particular holiday, make that very clear and insist that it be provided for in your custody order.
Unaddressed Holiday Time is a Risk for the Co-Parents Involved
If you do not expressly address holiday time in your custody order, you may still end up being fortunate enough to have your child or children during whichever holidays you need to have. But, the key thing is that you are always taking a risk when you take this route. Again, in the law, holidays are not special, they are not days on which the law demands that a certain parent be given custody. This means that, if you do not specifically reference them, you are left to working things out privately with your co-parent. Since co-parents are also ex-partners, it is clear that leaving things to be worked out privately is always a bit of a gamble, as certain co-parents might not have any issue monopolizing holiday parenting time.
As with basically everything in this arena of family law and child custody orders, having a diligent and capable attorney working with you during the process can be immensely beneficial. A skilled attorney will know how to properly approach and address the matter of holiday parenting time in the context of a child custody order.
Contact the Drake Law Firm for More Information
If you would like to learn more about parenting time issues during the holidays in Colorado, or another aspect of Colorado family law, contact one of the family law attorneys at the Drake Law Firm today by calling 720-679-8813.