Many parents in Florida now have co-parenting arrangements that allow children to spend time with both guardians. This is not an unusual situation. In 2014, USA Today reported that shared custody would become more common. This partially resulted from numerous studies showing that in instances where abuse was not evident, children benefited from maintaining a close relationship with both parents.
Another reason for co-parenting becoming more common is the changes in gender roles. In the past, men were often content to let their ex-wives raise the children while they continued to provide and saw the children every so often. However, as more women pursue careers, more men have also become caretakers. Fathers now wish to spend more time with their children and many want at least a 50/50 split in parenting time.
Even so, a 50/50 split is not always practical. This may be the case if both parents do not live in close proximity to each other or one parent has a busier work schedule than the other. Making a 50/50 parenting time split with no consideration for these and other factors may only cause prolonged friction between divorced parents.
Regardless of where a court draws the parenting time ratio, parents may need to have honest conversations about finances. CNBC encourages divorcees to hammer out all the details in the divorce decree to reduce the need to go back to court after discovering the devil in the details. These include how parents split costs related to health care, extra-curricular activities and even future college tuition.
For parents who believe constant communication may only lead to arguing, apps may come to their rescue. There are many platforms online that may help them to coordinate everything from extra financial contributions to coordinating schedules.