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How make visitation sessions and exchanges run smoothly in your post-divorce life

Working together with a person you just spent months getting a divorce from may seem incredibly counterintuitive, but if you and your ex-spouse have children together, that is precisely what you are being asked to do. Not only has the family court judge ordered you to do so, but your children also depend on both of you to act like grownups and to do what is best for them. This may not be easy to even think about, but it is the truth. Do not tempt yourself into thinking that you can do it all yourself. To some degree, you will have to work with your ex-spouse to make your children’s life post-divorce lives function well.

This discussion starts with making the visitation sessions- the drop-off/pick up and reversal of that order- work well. You are either the parent who has the right to determine the kids’ primary residence or are the parent who has the right to visitation with your children. No matter which parent you are, there are responsibilities that you have for your kids. If you can turn a complex set of circumstances into positive ones for your kids, you will have done your job as a parent. Namely- to put your interests/wants aside and to do what is best for your kids.

Nobody is asking you to be an over-the-top cheerleader for your ex-spouse. You do not need to constantly sacrifice your time and your relationship with your kids in deference to your ex-spouse, either. However, you can show your kids that it is possible to work together with someone who has differences. I think that we can all attest to the idea that working together with people you don’t necessarily agree with (or like) is a skill that many adults in our world could stand to re-learn or learn for the first time.

What you can do that both takes minimal effort and is incredibly helpful is to master and focus on a few tips that help with the transition of getting your kids into and out of visitation sessions. I will write from you as the parent who has primary custody of the kids or who has visitation rights. It doesn’t matter how things ended up for you in the divorce or if you are pleased with the results. All that matters is that you need to be willing to participate in the rearing of your kids.

Do not be rigid (unless you have to be)

Time is essential to all of us. Think back to your divorce. You and your ex-spouse probably argued about all of the following topics at least one: child support, health insurance, retirement benefits, personal property, real estate, your family home, college savings, and household bills. All of these topics are worthy of being argued about to an extent. However, the one topic surrounding every other subject in a divorce, whether we know it or not, is time.

Time is finite. There is no going back in time. There is no way to add time to the day. Once an experience has passed us by, it is gone forever. Some experiences in life (like your divorce) you are probably glad to be done and over with.

On the other hand, there are positive experiences that we all wish could be extended or multiplied repeatedly. Whether you understood it or not, you were fighting overtime in every issue of your divorce. Retirement savings means that you have to work less (time) and have more opportunity to do the things you want later in life (time). Child support means that you don’t have to work that second job (time) and have more to spend with your kids (time).

Do not underestimate the importance of time. If you never really thought much about what your time is worth, then a divorce will cause you to come face to face with that subject. You will start to value your time with your kids more than ever before. You may have been a person who did your best to enjoy the moments that you shared with your kids even before your divorce. Now that the divorce is done and over with, you will become even more acutely aware that the moments you get to share with your kids cannot last forever.

As such, you will be more protective of your time with the kids than before. However, you should do your best to balance your desire to hoard time with the kids and a desire to make sure that visitation sessions run smoothly. Sometimes this means sacrificing time and inconveniencing yourself to ensure that your child is experiencing the positive aspects of visitation.

If your ex-spouse calls you to say that a family dinner took longer than anticipated and that your kids will be home thirty minutes late, there are two reactions that you could choose to have. One would be to yell and scream at your ex-spouse and to threaten him with a lawsuit if the kids are even a minute late in getting home. This would be a reaction that, depending on your circumstances, I’m sure would feel justified.

The other reaction would be to roll your eyes, take a second to conduct yourself, and tell your ex-spouse that you appreciate the update and will see the kids soon. How can you go from one end of the spectrum to the other? What if you are an impatient person who is already upset at your ex-spouse due to how the divorce happened? That is where being a grown-up comes into play.

If your ex-spouse is already having problems with returning the kids on time, then you may not be able to be as flexible with time as if they were always punctual. However, if your ex-spouse is always on time with the kids and has no issues keeping the kids out late, I would recommend allowing the occasional late night or later than usual drop-off to occur. Let’s take a look at why I think that this ok to happen on occasion.

First, if the late drop-off occurs because of an extended family dinner, that is a legitimate activity. After all, it is suitable for your child to have a relationship with their other parent. It is also a good thing that they were sharing a meal. Yes, a late dinner did not consider your wants and desires, but the purpose of their being late was not to upset you. It can hurt from the perspective of your pride for your needs to not be someone’s primary consideration, but the reality is that your ex-spouse should not be focused on you.

Another factor is that if you are flexible with your time (on occasion and when reasonable), it is more likely that your ex-spouse will also be flexible with their time in the future. Can you ever envision a situation where you are running late to drop off the kids or to take the kids to your house at the end of a weekend? I’m sure you can. If you are willing to work with your ex-spouse in situations like that, they are likely to be ready to do the same with you. Don’t make this sort of thing a habit. Don’t assume that your ex-spouse will be understanding of you constantly being late with the kids. However, do extend civility towards your ex-spouse when doing so is necessary.

Act respectfully towards your ex-spouse

Although you won’t feel this way any longer, your kids view you and your ex-spouse not as people who used to be married to one another but as mom and dad. It isn’t apparent to have you all living separately. Add onto that a situation where you two treat the other disrespectfully? This could cause your child to love all sense of reality and can harm their maturation process.

This means that you need to act with respect towards your ex-spouse. Again, I am not asking you to be over the top in your affection for this person. That, too, maybe very confusing for your child. I am asking you to put your own emotions about this person on the back burner and instead focus on what you can do to help this person raise your child. We all understand that you and your ex-spouse are no longer married for a reason. We also understand that seeing one another can be difficult on an emotional level. However, none of this justifies lousy behavior that is disrespectful to your ex-spouse.

Your final decree of divorce likely bars you from speaking poorly of your ex-spouse or their family in front of your children. This could be something like badmouthing your ex-spouse when your mother is over at the house visiting with you and the kids. Mind your tongue in front of your kids. It doesn’t take much effort to do so. Like I mentioned before, when talking about another subject, it takes more effort and burns more calories to be nasty towards an ex-spouse.

The failure to do so could mean that your ex-spouse takes you back to court via an enforcement lawsuit. An enforcement lawsuit seeks to enforce the terms of your final decree of divorce. If you violate some aspect of the order, such as that part that mandates that you not speak ill of your ex-spouse or their family in front of your kid, then they can go to court to hold you accountable for doing so. You run the risk of having to pay attorney’s fees, fines for each violation, and other costs associated with the lawsuit.

Safety and stability are keys for your children.

Have you ever considered that your children may feel like their world has been turned upside down as a result of the divorce? You may have done everything that you can conceive of concerning your divorce as far as helping the kids to feel comfortable. However, their new routine is far from average for them right now. Even the simplest of interactions can seem difficult or foreign to them. As a result, you may need to work with your ex-spouse on making sure the kids feel safe and secure in their new environments.

One area that I think can be worked on greatly is making sure that you and your ex-spouse are consistently disciplining the kids. Kids take a great deal of safety out of rules and discipline. They feel like their world is being kept in line when you discipline them. Do not operate under the incorrect belief that your kids need to be alleviated during the timer period immediately after your divorce. On the contrary, if you work to discipline your children reasonably and consistently, you will be serving them well.

In tomorrow’s blog post, we will continue to discuss tips and tricks to help you and your family make it through the initial months of your post-divorce life. We thank you for joining us and hope that the information that we shared with you today has been helpful and informative.

Questions about the material found in today’s blog post? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan

If you have any questions about the material found in today’s blog post, please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our licensed family law attorneys offer free-of-charge consultations six days a week. These consultations are an excellent opportunity to learn more about our office and to have your questions answered directly.

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