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The New Post-Divorce Parental Timesharing Pact Becoming More Common

By Janet Langjahr

More and more couples (although still a fairly small percentage) are agreeing to equal timesharing or near-equal timesharing following divorce or separation.

These arrangements can be more complicated for all concerned and introduce more interactions and, therefore, potential conflict, between parents.

But where parents get along and both are able to put their kids first, such schedules can work well for everyone.

Even where more traditional timesharing arrangements are generally adopted, studies show that there is somewhat more actual contact between the children and the noncustodial parent more recently than in the past under such arrangements.

In some cases, the reason for increased timesharing with the noncustodial parent is financial, having to do with monetary incentives built into more modern child support laws.

In other cases, of course, the reason is that fathers genuinely want to spend more time with their kids than more traditional timesharing schedules allow.

Are equal and near-equal timesharing arrangements likely to be court-ordered where the parties don’t agree to it?

Statistics show that courts are still much more inclined to follow older, more traditional timesharing schedules where the parties don’t agree otherwise.

Why? Equal timesharing is fraught with logistical challenges that, where parents can’t get along, virtually guarantee further litigation, parental conflict and, potentially, danger.

In those cases, of course, a more traditional timesharing schedule minimizes parental interactions and conflict and therefore works better.

Read more in this Newsweek article: Not Your Dad’s Divorce.

Full post as published by Florida Divorce - Child Custody - Domestic Abuse Law on January 08, 2009 (boomark / email).