It is never too early to begin your preparation for the summer holidays.  This is especially true if you and your co-parent have difficulties agreeing on the logistics of the summer holidays. If you and your spouse are/were involved in a high conflict custody case or have a history of difficulties when making decisions about the children, preparedness is key ahead of the summer holidays.

Here are some tips on how to prepare and make seamless transition into your sunny summer holidays with ease and peace!:

1. Review Your Agreement/Orders: Before you buy your tickets and make plans for the summer holidays, it is always a good idea to review your agreement with your ex-spouse and any orders that the Family Court may have issued with respect to child custody arrangements and the holidays. It is important to review your agreement/orders so that you are in compliance with the custody arrangements for the summer holidays.  As a safeguard, it may also be a good idea to speak to your co-parent about your plans so that you are on the same page about the children’s holiday schedule and there is no room for miscommunication or misunderstandings.  Another way to safeguard any issues with your co-parent is to also plan in advance and accordingly so that if there are issues with cancellation or delayed flights, then you have sufficient time to bring the children back home in time for your co-parent’s holiday plans with the children and/or the start of school.
2. Communicate with your Co-Parent: As mentioned above, communication with your co-parent is key to avoid any miscommunication or misunderstanding when it comes to the children’s holiday schedule.  If you are or were involved in a litigious divorce and it is difficult to communicate with your co-parent, then speak to your solicitor about communicating your travel plans with your co-parent well in advance of your travel plans.  The last thing you or your co-parent want to deal with ahead of the holidays is disagreement and argument over the children’s holiday plans and/or during the holidays as this will only ruin your time with the children and your children will sense the tension.  You can avoid such disagreements and arguments by speaking directly with your co-parent about your plans with the children and ensure your co-parent is fully aware of the plans before any tickets are purchased.
3. Provide Adequate Details About The Children’s Holidays: If you and your co-parent are on good terms, this will not be a difficult task.  However, if you and your co-parent are having difficulties in communication and/or do not speak on a regular basis, it may be a difficult ask to provide transparency with respect to the children’s holidays.  Many times, litigious co-parents do not want the other parent to know about the details of their holidays and do not feel the other parent is privy to these details.  Whilst this is understandable in certain situations, it is important to remember that this is not about you.  This is about the children.  It is important for your co-parent to be made aware of the details of the children’s travel plans.  This includes a detailed itinerary of travel such as the date of travel to/from their home and if there are additional travel plans within the trip.  Other details you should provide to your co-parent is the contact details of the children during the trip and any other relevant details that may be important.  For example, if your child is traveling with you and has additional travel plans within your trip to travel with family friends, this is something that should be disclosed to the other parent.  The other parent is entitled to know where the children are during the holidays and how to reach them.  It is also important to allow your children to be able to communicate with your co-parent even during the holidays.  If your agreement/orders allow for your co-parent to have telephone/FaceTime with your children, you should ensure that the agreement/orders are followed even during the holidays.
4. Ensure Finances Are In Order For The Holidays: It is also important that before you embark on your journey, that your finances are well in order with respect to the children.  For example, if your co-parent is required to provide extra monies for the children’s holidays, be sure to communicate this with your co-parent so that you are both on the same page about the activities and adventures the children will be participating in on the holiday.  It is important to ensure that the shared costs for the holidays are shared indeed.   Any disagreement about costs related to the children’s holiday plans can easily be resolved with direct communication with your co-parent.

If there are disagreements about the children’s holidays and there is no way to handle the disagreement, this is the time when you will need to speak to a solicitor.  If you and your spouse are in disagreement over the agreement/orders regarding the children’s holidays, you may require court intervention. If court intervention is required, it is important to recognize that it will take a considerable amount of time before you can be heard before a judge and before a decision is made. It is for this reason that you should prepare well in advance of the children’s holidays to ensure that you and your co-parent are in agreement with the children’s plans. If there is no agreement, then at least there will be sufficient time to mediate or seek court intervention before the holidays approach.