The circumstances involving child visitation, or access, in the state of Maryland can be complex; no standard access schedule exists. As parents, you should work together to determine which dates are important and then decide with whom your child will spend those dates. Some of the more commonly addressed important dates include: Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, children’s birthdays, and parents’ birthdays.
Defining important days with a specific start and end time, regardless of whether it is an actual 24-hour period or a weekend, is paramount. An effective access plan should include the day, date and time that the important day begins along with the day, date and time that the important day concludes.
Some holidays are straight-forward. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are generally simple to handle. Typically, moms have Mother’s Day, and dads have Father’s Day. With these holidays always falling on a Sunday, they are generally easier to plan.
Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are usually alternated between parents, unless it makes more sense, based on family history and travel issues, that one parent always has a particular holiday.
Children’s birthdays can be handled several ways. For example, if your child’s birthday occurs on a school day, then your child will most likely be in school on his/her birthday. Consequently, the amount of time to spend with your child is limited to the after-school-but-before-bedtime period. Given this time constraint, it might make more sense for each parent to celebrate during the scheduled time with your child. If your child’s birthday falls during the summer vacation months, then splitting the day may be more feasible. However, parents should consider whether your child would have a better day splitting it between two parents or by celebrating on different days.
A parent’s birthday may be addressed by allowing your child to spend some or part of the day with the parent observing the birthday.
The key to a comprehensive parenting agreement is to have specificity with regard to when access begins and ends. The experience of Linda Sorg Ostovitz will enable handling of this and other divorce-related matters. Please contact Linda Sorg Ostovitz via email lostovitz@offitkurman.com or telephone (301) 575-0381.
ABOUT LINDA SORG OSTOVITZ
Linda Sorg Ostovitz is a family law attorney. Her legal experience spans more than 34 years. In this time, she has served as a leader, educator and advocate. Mrs. Ostovitz holds a prestigious fellowship in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Currently, she serves as President for the Business Women’s Network of Howard County, by which she was chosen Woman of Distinction for 2014. Mrs. Ostovitz represents clients in Howard, Anne Arundel, Carroll and Baltimore Counties. Her practice focuses exclusively on divorce litigation and mediation, child custody and access, child support, alimony, business valuation, as well as property and asset distribution. In addition to providing legal representation in court, Mrs. Ostovitz provides mediation services to help families come to a fair and legally-sound conclusion outside of the traditional court proceedings.
ABOUT OFFIT KURMAN
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