There are many optional provisions parents may include in their court order or parenting plan. One provision many parents choose to include is vacation parenting time.
Parents may agree that each parent may have one or two weeks of consecutive or non-consecutive time for vacation with the children that will take priority over the regular parenting time schedule. This may or may not involve travel with the children.
Several considerations should be made when creating a parenting plan to avoid pitfalls in the future. Some of these considerations may include:
- How much vacation parenting time may be taken at one time? For example, each parent may have two total weeks of vacation parenting time, but does that mean they must take one two-week vacation or can they take two one-week vacations? Or, does this mean they have 14 days of vacation parenting time to take whenever they want?
- Will vacation parenting time change as the child gets older?
- How is a “week” of vacation parenting time defined? Is that seven continuous days, or individual days? Does the vacation parenting time have to include one’s own parenting time?
- How much advance notice must be given to the other parent?
- What if both parents request the same dates for vacation parenting time? Does one parent get first choice in even years, and the other in odd years?
If your court order does not have a vacation parenting time provision or if you would like to modify the vacation parenting time, we can help. Contact us for a consultation today.