For family lawyers, summer can mean last-minute arguments over clients’ vacation plans, children’s camps and activities and disputes over schooling.
Here are some tips (not intended as training) for family lawyers to help clients navigate these issues:
Summer vacation and travel
Before the summer months, speak with your clients about their plans for summer parenting time and travel plans. Traveling outside the country, in particular, requires planning. Passports and consent documents need to be obtained, flights need to be booked and itineraries need to be provided to the other parent.
If this is the first summer that the parties have been separated, you will want to negotiate summer parenting schedules, vacation and travel in advance to have all details confirmed in writing to avoid confusion.
If a client or opposing party makes last-minute changes to summer plans, gather as much information as you can about the plans. If you need to deal with the issues in an urgent court application, the court is going to need as much information as possible, including:
- What are the proposed dates for vacation/travel?
- Any travel documents (i.e., passports, travel consents, visas, medical insurance) that may be required for the trip and whether they have already been obtained.
- Proposed itineraries, including details on where the children will be staying, and emergency contact numbers.
- Proposals for the other parent’s parenting time – will they be given make-up parenting time or a similar period of vacation time?
- For international travel, is the destination country a signatory to the Hague Convention? Are there concerns that a parent may not return with the children?
Parenting time and summer activities
A common source of conflict between parents is whether they will follow the regular parenting schedule during the summer months.
Some of the considerations to discuss with your clients are:
- What vacation time is available to parents during the summer months? What does their work schedule look like?
- What childcare is needed during the summer – will that take the form of day camps, overnight camps, family members providing care or paid childcare?
- How will transportation work to camps, activities and childcare?
- Who is responsible for enrolling the children in activities or camps and how will they be paid?
School changes/disputes
Disputes over which school children should attend often arise in the summer.
If the parties are unable to resolve the school issue by the summer, or a new situation arises necessitating a decision about school enrollment, some of the information the court will need includes:
- Location of the school in relation to each parent’s home.
- Options for transportation to and from school.
- Before- and after-school care options and availability.
- Any specialized programming options and the needs of the children for specialized programming.
- Reasons for the proposed change in school related to the child’s needs and interests (e.g., was the child being bullied at the previous school? Does the child have an Individualized Program Plan that can be better addressed at a different school?)
- Impact of a change in school on the parenting schedule – is it a longer commute for one parent? Do the children have to be up earlier in the morning?
- Impact of a change in school on pre-existing extracurricular activities – can the child still participate in the extracurricular activities they are in now?
- Any cost associated with changing schools – registration fees, meal fees, the need for before- and after-school care, bus fees, transportation costs.
Plan ahead
With some planning and thoughtful discussions leading into the summer months, summer can be a relaxing time for your clients. If a time-sensitive issue arises, focusing on some of the considerations outlined here can help you and your clients arrive at a solution quickly.