The Complete Guide to Maximizing Your Parenting Time
For couples with children, making parenting time decisions is a critical step in the divorce process. While your marriage may have ended, you and your ex will be forever linked through your children. Having a well-planned parenting time schedule from the start will ensure stability in your children’s lives.
Our guide covers how parenting time is measured, what factors determine it, and how a family law attorney can help. We’ve organized this information so you can easily reference it when drafting a parenting plan that checks all your family’s boxes.
Parenting Time: An Overview
As you sort through child custody during your divorce, you can expect to hear your attorney use the term “parenting time” quite a bit.
What used to be known as visitation or custody is now referred to as parenting time; simply put it is the schedule for when your child is supposed to be in your care. Courts and parents work together to decide how much time a child will spend with each parent.
Parenting time varies on a case-by-case basis. The courts’ job is to act as a neutral third party to keep the child’s best interests front and center when decisions that will greatly affect their lives are made. C.R.S. 14-10-129
How Parenting Time is Measured
In most cases, a family judge aims for an arrangement that involves shared parenting time. C.R.S. 14-10-124
For instance, a 50/50 parenting plan means that one parent has 183 overnights during the calendar year while the other has 182 overnights. Perhaps you and your ex will share your children 50-50, but many other parenting time schedules rotate time differently between parties.
The Nine Factors That Determine Parenting Time
Colorado family courts use the following nine factors in determining parenting time orders:
- Parents’ wishes
- Children’s wishes
- Relationships between the child and the parents
- Children’s potential adjustment to a new home, school, and/or neighborhood
- Mental and physical health of the parents
- Ability for both parties to encourage the sharing of love, affection, and contact between the child and the other party
- Past patterns of involvement
- Physical proximity of the parents
- Capacity to place the children’s needs above their own
These factors are commonly referred to as the best interests of the child standards. Obviously, you will have more control over some of the factors listed than others. However, for now, let’s focus on the factors you can control
The Parents’ Wishes
At first glance, this might seem like a no-brainer. Of course, you want to spend the most time you possibly can with your children. However, you have to remember that parenting time is ultimately about the best interests of the child. If you were not the primary caregiver during your marriage, you need to decide whether you can make the necessary lifestyle changes that daily care of your children requires. For instance:
- Will you be able to get them to school on time?
- Will you be able to balance their after-school activities with your work schedule?
- Are you able and willing to assist with homework obligations or school activities?
If the answers to these questions are a resounding “yes,” consider requesting more parenting time on the weekdays. However, if you feel uneasy about handling some of these responsibilities, opt for parenting times when you know you’ll be more available for your children.
The Child’s Wishes
How much weight this factor carries really depends on how old the involved children are. The courts are more likely to consider the wishes of tweens and teenagers than of young children.
For instance, a 16-year-old’s parental preference usually carries more weight than an eight-year-old’s. Remember that each situation is unique – and I would not go so far as to say that the child’s preference will decide the parenting time allocation. However, it will be taken into consideration.
Relationships Between the Child and the Parents
Every parent likes to think they’re a great parent, but no two families are the same. It’s important to consider the quality of your relationships with your children and your child’s relationships with their siblings, ex, and other relatives.
Dynamics such as any special needs the child may have will also affect the ability of the Court to fashion an appropriate parenting time schedule.
The Child’s Potential Adjustment to a New Home, School, or Neighborhood
Divorce can be a difficult time for children as they try to adjust to new homes and schedules. Limiting change as much as possible can increase your chances of receiving more parenting time from the courts.
For example, consider looking for a new place in an area within your child’s current school district. The children will feel safer in the new space since it doesn’t require making new friends or learning new routes. This will also simplify parenting time during the week since there will not be a longer commute to and from school for the children.
Both Parents’ Mental and Physical Health
This is one factor that you can certainly be proactive about. Simply having mental or physical health issues should not prevent you from spending time with your children. However, if you have struggled with a physical or mental health issue in the past, be prepared to demonstrate to the court how you have taken steps to manage your symptoms. The focus is always on how any particular situation affects the ability to care for the minor child – so keep that in mind.
Your attorney can help you determine what documentation the courts may request.
The Ability for Both Parties to Encourage the Sharing of Love, Affection, and Contact Between the Child and the Other Party
While demonstrating your love and care for your children is important to the court, it doesn’t end there. The judge wants to know that you actively encourage a loving and meaningful relationship between your child and the other parent. Prioritizing your child’s relationship with the other parent, sometimes despite your personal feelings about your ex, is essential from the court’s perspective.
Past Patterns of Involvement
Another way to demonstrate your exemplary parenting skills to the court is to document your history of involvement in your children’s lives. The more involved you have been, the more likely a judge will award you more parenting time.
List all the ways you are involved in your children’s lives. Be as specific as possible. Involvement could range from attending your children’s sporting events to volunteering to chaperone a school dance. Outline what you do to make your children’s lives better.
The Physical Proximity of the Parents
Moving can affect your parenting time for better or worse. If your new residence is an hour away from your child’s current school and their other parent’s home, that decision will harm the ability to exercise parenting time, at least during the school year. In this case, a weekend arrangement might be preferable.
Note that the further away you move, the more likely your move will negatively affect your parenting time. If you must move to another state, developing a parenting plan focusing on visitation during summer and school breaks might be the only plausible option. Of course, the Court can consider if relocating the minor child to reside primarily with you, under those circumstances, is always an option – but that also has different considerations.
The Ability to Place the Children’s Needs Above Their Own
Making sacrifices for your children is typically something that “comes with the job,” and most parents make sacrifices for their children’s happiness and well-being. Courts want to know that parents can be selfless.
Get Experienced Family Law Representation
Before drafting your ideal arrangement, it’s advisable to seek legal guidance from a skilled family law attorney. This will ensure that your plan is legally sound, maximizing your chances of protecting your rights and interests throughout the negotiation process. Call 303-688-0944 to begin your case assessment.
