If you’re a parent who is getting divorced, determining your custody rights is one of the most important things you can do. You need to split up the time that the children spend with each of you and then create a plan to co-parent after the divorce.
There are many different ways to do this, and we’ll take a look at two below. Please note that the age of your children and how well you still get along with your ex may play a big role here.
Traditional custody exchanges
The standard way to exchange custody is simply to create a schedule for the children. Both of the parents have their own homes or apartments. The schedule dictates which residence the children live in at the time. The length of these visits may differ dramatically. Some people trade the children back every few days, while others will switch back and forth every week. But the parents always stay in the same homes and the children move in and out.
Bird-nesting exchanges
With bird-nesting, the opposite is true. The children never have to leave the singular home where they live. The parents are the ones who are bound by the schedule. They move in and out of the house that the children are in. This can be more expensive since each parent also needs to have a place to live when they don’t have custody. But it can also be more stable for the children and may put less stress on them.
What should you do?
What you decide to do depends on the specifics of your exact case. Just make sure that you know about all of the options you have and the legal obligations to set up the plan.