As a parent, much of every day is spent managing logistics for your children, including getting them where they need to be when they need to be there. A divorce or custody case adds the complexity of coordinating with a co-parent to balance both households' schedules. Choosing the best parenting time schedule for your children requires a careful balance of emotional maturity and practical thinking. Knowing your options is important to making the best choice for your family.
What is the Default Parenting Time Schedule in Michigan?
If you have talked to friends and family about their custody or divorce experiences, you may have heard that they received a “standard” or default parenting time schedule of alternating weekends and possibly a mid-week overnight. This is a very common parenting time schedule because it works well for many families where each parent works a first-shift job.
But there is nothing in the law that says this must be the case. In fact, the law requires Michigan family court judges to consider the best interests of the children in each individual case, and to award parenting time in a “frequency, duration and type” reasonably calculated to let those children maintain a strong relationship with both parents.
Is There a Difference Between Physical Custody and Parenting Time?
In years past, many custody battles have been fought over who would receive “sole physical custody.” But except in very rare cases, even when a court order includes those words, the non-custodial parent is still awarded parenting time with their children. Shared custody, joint physical custody, and even equal parenting time are becoming increasingly common, at least in cases where parents live close enough to share the children's daily commute. In choosing the best parenting time schedule for your children, your focus shouldn't be on labels or even getting “more” time with your children than your co-parent. Instead, you need to keep what is best for your children at the center of your thoughts.
How Michigan Courts Decide Parenting Time
When custody cases go to trial, Michigan family court judges are required to consider the best interests of the children in awarding custody and setting parenting time schedules. In addition to these 12 “best interest factors”, the Child Custody Act provides a second list of factors that relate specifically to parenting time:
(a) The existence of any special circumstances or needs of the child.
(b) Whether the child is a nursing child less than 6 months of age, or less than 1 year of age if the child receives substantial nutrition through nursing.
(c) The reasonable likelihood of abuse or neglect of the child during parenting time.
(d) The reasonable likelihood of abuse of a parent resulting from the exercise of parenting time.
(e) The inconvenience to, and burdensome impact or effect on, the child of traveling for purposes of parenting time.
(f) Whether a parent can reasonably be expected to exercise parenting time in accordance with the court order.
(g) Whether a parent has frequently failed to exercise reasonable parenting time.
(h) The threatened or actual detention of the child with the intent to retain or conceal the child from the other parent or from a third person who has legal custody. A custodial parent's temporary residence with the child in a domestic violence shelter shall not be construed as evidence of the custodial parent's intent to retain or conceal the child from the other parent.
(i) Any other relevant factors.
The same statute allows courts to consider other issues such as:
- Transportation
- Restrictions or requirements on third parties present during parenting time
- Specific times and locations for parenting time exchanges
- Communication around when parenting time won't happen or needs to change
Using the Michigan Parenting Time Guideline to Set the Best Schedule
But most custody cases don't go to trial. Most parents choose a parenting time schedule together through negotiations or mediation outside of court. If you are committed to reducing conflict and maintaining control over your family's future, you can use the Michigan Parenting Time Guideline to choose a schedule that is tailored to your children's needs and your own priorities.
The Guidelines help parents understand their children's needs based on their ages and developmental stages, as well as special considerations such as children with special needs, long-distance parenting time situations, and blended families. It can help you understand what kind of schedule will be best for your children where they are now and prepare for adjustments that may need to be made in the future. It offers a variety of sample schedules and provides a blank calendar you can use to set a schedule that works for you.
You and your Michigan child custody attorney can and should use these Guidelines to set your priorities and ensure you consider all aspects of your parenting time schedule, including holidays, vacations, exchange details, transportation, and many other aspects that may be overlooked in the high-stress environment of the courts. Whether you choose to go to trial or choose your own parenting time schedule, the Guidelines can help you articulate what is best for your children.
Get Help Choosing the Best Parenting Time Schedule from a Michigan Family Lawyer
At Bebout, Potere, Cox & Bennion, P.C., we care about you and your family. We help individuals and families in Rochester Hills, Rochester, Troy, Lake Orion, Oxford, Oakland County, Macomb County and throughout Southeast Michigan. We can help you understand the parenting time factors and the Michigan Parenting Time Guideline and use them to craft a parenting time schedule that works for your family. Call us at 248-651-4114 or contact us here to speak to an attorney.
