The Pros and Cons of 50/50 Parenting Time
In any divorce where there are minor children at home, a parenting plan has to be made. A significant part of this plan will outline where the child lives; the rest can outline how important decisions regarding the child’s education, healthcare, and so forth will be made. Some parents can agree on a 50/50 share of parenting time, where the child’s time is spent equally between them and they make decisions jointly but other couples – whether due to work restrictions or otherwise – have to decide on a different split of the time to better work with their availability.
What are the pros of 50/50 parenting and custody?
It might not be surprising that there are a lot of benefits to sharing your child’s time equally between yourself and your former spouse. While not always easy to manage, 50/50 parenting time can be worth the challenges. Some of these benefits include:
- More free time: When you share your child or children between two residences, that means that you have more free time to yourself when your child is visiting their other parent. You could use this time to run errands, schedule appointments, or simply to catch on some much needed rest.
- Diverse upbringing: Living between two houses can expand your child’s access to different amenities and types of living. For instance, one parent might live in a more rural area, and the other may live in the city.
- Child’s access to both parents: In the case where the patients are unable to have a 50/50 parenting plan, a parent has to lose out on time with their child. In an ideal situation, a 50/50 split allows each parent to have as much time as possible in equal amounts, and that means that the child won’t be missing one parent more than the other.
- Two full-time incomes: Instead of a child or children having to be solely dependent on one parent with one income, they still benefit from both incomes. This can prove to be especially beneficial if there is a large discrepancy in the two incomes, or if both parents agree to help with college costs when the time comes.
What are the drawbacks of 50/50 parenting?
While a 50/50 split of parenting time may sound ideal, it is often not pragmatic. It can sometimes prove detrimental to both the parents and the children. A 50/50 split may not work if:
- Parents live far away: If the parents live far from each other, travel can not only be lengthy and disruptive, but also costly – especially with gas prices these days.
- One parent is unable to care for the child: A parent may be struggling with addiction or health condition that makes them unfit to take on certain parenting responsibilities.
- It disrupts the structure of a younger child’s day: According to timtab.com, an online source for parenting plans, “for very young children, exact 50/50 custody makes for a disrupted life. Have a look at the top-rated 50/50 custody schedule for a baby for example. It requires 12 trips between homes per fortnight. And, still, the baby must spend 2 nights in a row away from each parent at different stages.”
- A parent’s job makes it impossible: One parent may be an ER nurse or police officer, where it may not be feasible to have your child with you as much as you would have to have them in a 50/50 split. One parent may have to have more residential time with the child simply for scheduling reasons.
One thing to note, though, is that just because the custody schedule cannot be 50/50, the ability to co-parent can be. Important decisions regarding healthcare, education, and religion should have input from both parents, when possible. If you and your ex-spouse are in a position where you can discuss these things rationally and amicably, you should.
How does child support work with a 50/50 parenting plan?
When custody is not shared equally, the parent who spends less time with the child is usually the one who is ordered to pay child support. However, in a 50/50 shared custody plan, it depends on who has a higher income. In any situation, the Tennessee Child Support Guidelines are what’s used to calculate child support. The aim of the Tennessee child support guidelines is:
- “To decrease the number of impoverished children living in single parent families
- To make child support awards more equitable….
- To improve the efficiency of the court process by promoting settlements…
- To encourage parents paying support to maintain contact with their child(ren).
- To ensure that when parents live separately, the economic impact on the child(ren) is minimized….
- To…maintain a bond between the parent and the child, to establish patterns of regular payment, and to enable the enforcement agency and party receiving the support to maintain contact with the parent paying support.”
These guidelines are based on “Income Shares” which “establish the dollar amount of child support obligations based on the amount of parents’ combined adjusted gross income and the number of children for whom the child support order is being established or modified.” As such, the parent with the higher income will likely be ordered to pay support, though he or she may not have to pay as much. The main thing to remember is that BOTH parents are financially responsible for their children.
If you are trying to figure out what parenting plan may work best for you and your family, it is important to contact a Franklin family law attorney to thoroughly go over your options. You may find that a 50/50 parenting plan and custody will work best for you; or maybe due to work conflicts, more or less custody over your child is more reasonable. It is something that you need to work out with your former spouse and your lawyer so that your child or children suffer as little as possible during your split. If you need to talk about custody and parenting plans, contact the family law attorneys of The Law Offices of Adrian H. Altshuler & Associates. Call us at 615-977-9370 or use our contact page. We are dedicated to working out what’s best for your family. We have offices in Franklin, Brentwood, and Columbia.
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