Your parenting plan can address your concerns about custody and visitation

As you move through the divorce process, it’s critical to do your part in keeping a balanced and healthy living environment for your children. They’re going through a difficult time, too, so don’t leave them to figure things out on their own.

One of the most important things you’ll do in your divorce is create a parenting plan. This outlines the legal rights and responsibilities of both parents, while also addressing a variety of key questions.

Here are just a few of the many things your parenting plan should touch on:

• Physical custody: It should be clear as to which parent has physical custody. This signifies where your children will live post-divorce.
• Legal custody: This gives one or both parents the power to make key decisions, such as those related to education, religion, medical care and extracurricular activities.
• Visitation schedule: The non-custodial parent should still be able to spend time with their children. And that’s where the visitation schedule comes into play. It should clearly outline when this parent will have access to their children.
• Holiday and vacation schedule: Not everyone includes this in their parenting plan, but it can help prevent future disagreements. For example, you may decide that your children will spend every Christmas with you and every Christmas Eve with your ex-spouse.

It can be a challenge to work through these details when creating a parenting plan — but don’t let that stop you from making an honest effort. The decisions you make during your divorce will affect you for many years to come. And that’s especially true when it comes to custody and visitation.