Plantation Family Law Blog

Depending on the age of your children, they may have a basic idea of how the divorce process works and what it means to them. And even if they're too young to realize exactly what's happening, they're still smart enough to know that they're no longer living in the same house with both their parents.

It's critical to take the right steps when explaining visitation to your children. You want them to be clear about what it is, as well as the benefits for everyone involved. Here are some of the things you can do:

• Talk about the benefits to them: For example, explain how these visits give them more time with their other parent. And with permission from your ex, you can even go into details about all the fun things they'll get to do.
• Explain how it works: Before your children leave you, let them know how long they'll be gone and whether or not they're staying overnight. You don't want anything to catch them by surprise.
• Let them have a say: Even though you and your ex need to closely follow your parenting agreement and visitation schedule, it's okay for your children to have a say in what happens. This is particularly true if they're old enough to know what is happening. As long as both you and your ex are okay with the decisions being made, it should work out for the best. You want to settle on a visitation schedule and arrangement that makes everyone happy.

The last thing you want to deal with after a stressful divorce is a child custody dispute. However, if you share children with your ex, there's a good chance this will happen at some point.

It's easy to believe that every dispute will result in a serious argument, but this doesn't have to be the case. There are steps you can take to calmly work through a child custody dispute, thereby reducing tension and allowing you to be better co-parents in the future.

Once you divorce, you hope that you never again have to spend one-on-one time with your ex. And while you have this choice, keep in mind that there may be times when you are in close proximity alongside your children.

For example, if you and your ex are both attending a sporting event or recital for your child, you need to act civil. Here are some tips you can follow to ease the tension and make it through the event without incident:

• Greet your ex: Rather than act like you don't see your ex or ignore them completely, say hello. Not only does this eliminate some of the awkwardness, but it also kicks things off on the right foot.
• Don't discuss anything that could cause an argument: For example, this isn't the time or place to discuss your parenting agreement, visitation schedule or recent conflicts. If you have something you need to discuss, wait until the appropriate time.
• Respect their time with your children: Take for instance a piano recital. Upon completion, both you and your ex want to spend time congratulating your child and chatting with them. Wait your turn, take your turn and then respect your ex's time with your child.

When you decide to divorce, you're likely to have concerns about the impact on your children. And not only are you worried about what it will do to them right now, you may have concerns about how it could affect them over the rest of their life.

This is why you want to do everything you can to stabilize their life during this difficult transition. For example, when possible, shared custody is often the best route. This gives your children the opportunity to continue to spend time with both parents.