Parenting schedules

[OneMan]

The long and short of it is that the child is with one parent about a month more per year. That's the hassle of 60/40 no matter what it's called. Anyway, it's my primary concern and the thing that I'm set on changing. So I wonder: Is it better to adjust the time during the year or by adding a couple of weeks in the summer?

My assumption is that the typical CP/NCP plan backends nights with NCP in the summer so that the total number of nights per year equals out. But I just don't know and I'm trying to find a basis for comparison.

My personal belief is that it's best spread it out over the year and to leave the summer untouched. But since my ex will only deal with this via the court, what I think is beside the point. I need to present a case resembling some sort of a standard plan. I say this because I've noticed that in family law people tend to like established templates.

[MixedBag]

OK, well THAT doesn't help me much or answer my question.

BUT I'm gathering that you already have an order in place.

I'm gonna go from that assumption....

If you have an order in place, you have to prove that additional time with the father (mother in my case) is in the best interest of the child.  And while true 50/50 seems to make sense, "you're" (and neither was I for my own case in court) not an expert. 

Step one is to have a significant change in circumstances -- and that could be or your argument would be that you are no longer a work from home parent where the child was also spending time with you, but now you work outside the home and THE CHILD's time with you has been reduced.

Step two is to show that this is harmful to the child (but unavoidable by yourself) and that more time with your during your off days is good for the child.

Step three is to find a professional or expert witness to testify to this fact (that's where I failed).

I found myself in a position where I could retire and stay at home -- and as a long distance parent, I was hoping for more time with our son over the summer since Dad worked a full time job and didn't take/had only 2-3 weeks of vacation throughout the year.

The judge did find that I had a significant change in circumstances to file and ask the court, BUT since our son was "doing fine" with "what time he had with his mother" the court found no reason to change/increase the parenting schedule as I requested.

HOW the schedule could be improved to achieve 50/50 in your case is unclear to me since you didn't share specific wording or details as to what your current order says.

As a long distance parent, I had to let my girls go for 4 weeks each summer and one week that alternated over Christmas (Dad had 4 weeks of vacation annually from work).  But that divorce was British and in 1990.  Joint legal custody was a very new concept there.

As the long distance parent to my son (1996), he agreed to one week that alternated between Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter/Spring Break, and 6 weeks (half) the summer, and one weekend a month but I had to travel 12 hours one way and couldn't take him for than 5 hours away from his home -- translation, not back to the rest of his family, an attempt to alienate our son from my side of the family -- and YES, eventually, I used that clause all the time and it pissed him off because I figured out how to use it)

When I was with EX#3, he got alternating weeks over Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and Easter/Spring break and 6 weeks over the summer (1998).