How To Plan with Your Mediator for the Summer Months
Despite the fact that people travel year round, the summer months always evoke memories of family vacations, road trips, and camp. For divorcing couples with school age children, the summer months can present a host of problems and complexities.
However, there are solutions to these issues and Mediation is an ideal way to create them. Let’s talk about a few ways you can work with your divorce mediator to plan for and handle co-parenting during the summer months.
Work with your Mediator to Plan Ahead
Planning months ahead can be intimidating and daunting. Mediation not only promotes thoughtful planning, but helps couples set priorities and work through mutual concerns. All this planning is especially important when you have to coordinate summer time and take care of your school-age children. Parents often share parenting time differently during the summer. Without school schedules to interfere, longer and more frequent visits are possible. Before this smooth transition of parenting time and vacations can occur, the details need to be worked out.
Ensure Open Communication through Mediation
A benefit of Mediation is always that it revolves around open communication that obviously facilitates mutual agreement and a thoughtful plan. A litigated divorce usually involves communications between attorneys and often results in an agreement that is not mutually acceptable. Such agreements can lead to conflict, crisis, and confusion. However these consequences can be avoided when a skilled Mediator guides you through the process.
Use Mediation to Establish an Agreement
Exactly what do you actually have to decide? Surely you can’t anticipate everything. Once again, your Mediator can help you establish an agreement with a sound framework to handle peripheral issues as they arise.
Don’t Let Expenses Surprise You
Extraordinary and routine expenses can be listed appropriately and eliminate a minor expense that can cause a surprising amount of conflict. However, there are other significant factors that should become part of your mediation agreement.
Establish New Routines with your Mediator
During the months when school is not in session, new routines may need to be established. These new schedules are the primary reason that your mediation agreement must account for the changes. Where visits to a non-residential parent might involve weekends or one to two nights a week, summer visitation might involve longer time. Assigning expenses, transportation, child care, trips, and camp schedules will ensure a much more organized summer.
Talk to your Mediator about Summer Activities like Sports Leagues and Summer Camps
Important considerations are camp and sports activities because both require extra expense, parental involvement, transportation, and medical records. Children frequently plan their summer vacations around sports leagues and summer camp. You can avoid disappointing them by including these activities in your mediation agreement.
Planning for the future can be intimidating. A skilled and thoughtful Mediator can be your answer to success. Asking the right questions and listening carefully to the answers will help the coming months go more smoothly. As long as the process involves open and honest communication, your chance for a smooth and productive summer are improved.
Contact one of our offices today if you would like to speak to a divorce mediator.