The simple act of planning a summer vacation with your child can be a lot of fun. However, the real action doesn’t start until you embark on your journey.

If you’re divorced, it’s important to keep custody-related matters in mind when planning your trip. Neglecting to do so can drain all the fun from the experience.

Here are some tips to follow:

• Create a schedule on your own, but share it with the other parent as soon as possible: Also, once you have a schedule in place, such as when you’re coming and going, don’t make any major changes.
• Review your custody agreement: This is important because you don’t want to violate your agreement in any way. If your custody agreement says you can’t take your child out of the country, for example, it’s best to avoid international destinations.
• Setup times for your child to communicate with the other parent: Depending on your child’s age, you may need to setup time every day for him or her to check in with the other parent. This is better than trying to keep your child and ex-spouse from staying in touch.

In a perfect world, you’d never have to think about matters of child custody when planning a summer vacation. Unfortunately, this may be the way things are for you right now.

If you’re in the planning phase, be sure to think about every last detail. When you leave no stone unturned, it’s much easier to feel good about your plans and to carry them out when the time finally arrives.

Source: FindLaw, “Top 5 Tips for Child Custody and Summer Vacation,” accessed June 08, 2018