Sometimes people decide to end relationships when children are involved. Most of the time, but not always the children are biological to the people separating. It is common for this type of arrangement to be because of a divorce, but sometimes the adults have never been married. I strongly recommend people who are going to parent children separately have a parenting plan accepted by the court. I currently serve on a subcommittee of the Standing Family Law Committee of the Alabama Law Institute charged with developing parenting plan choices for non-married or divorcing families in Alabama. Our goal is to help parents plan parenting time with their children that serve the best interest of the children. I believe in the near future it will be required by the court that parents submit a parenting plan when they file for divorce. It is my experience that ex-couples fight about two things: children and money. Neither is necessary. There are excellent reasons for me to help you choose a parenting plan that is right for your family.
It greatly reduces the cost of attorney fees when each person can walk into their attorney’s office with all of the parenting already agreed upon. Trust me; my hourly fee will be less than half what your attorneys will be.
- Your children are the most important part of your lives. You know them better than anyone, while I know a great deal about human development and attachment. Why would you leave the most important part of your lives up to total strangers to make decisions for your family? You will have to compromise some, but as long as you and your ex keep the best interest of the children as priority things generally work out fine.
- There are many things in the parenting plans I use that you may not think of while determining your schedule with the children. I am trained to think of those things for you.
- Doing this small amount of work on the front side will save you plenty of angst on the back side.
You can read more about divorce mediation here