How Winter Creates Child Custody Issues
Even the best-crafted custody agreement does not take into consideration every single situation that could possibly arise. In these circumstances, you must often make a judgment call; case in point: Your child is running a high fever, making it not in his or her best interest that he or she return to you for your designated custodial time.
With winter upon us, you may also find yourself required by your custody order to exchange your child in the midst of a snowstorm or, worse, a blizzard; again, you should use your best judgment in deciding whether to follow the custody agreement.
Here in sunny California, we don’t get too many of those snow days, but there are other conditions wherein the weather makes it dangerous or unreasonable to transport your child. Here’s a scenario we’ve seen before: School is canceled, but the predicted storm never moves in – are you responsible for transporting your child to his or her co-parent’s home if the school bus isn’t running? In the absence of direction from the custodial/parenting agreement itself, the courts would likely consider what would be “reasonable” in the circumstances and whether you act in good faith to further your child’s best interests.
If a custodial exchange is canceled due to safety or other weather-related factor, it may throw the whole balance of parenting time equation out of whack. Another example: Your child is supposed to fly from Los Angeles to Florida to meet up with his or her father over Thanksgiving weekend, but the flight is canceled due to weather. Being impossible to book another flight until after the holiday, your son or daughter remains in Roseville with you for the holiday weekend, but because you don’t want to get thrown into court by your ex and you want your child to spend quality time with the parent, what’s the answer?
If you need help enforcing or modifying a child visitation rights agreement, seek advice from an experienced child custody lawyer, such as the experts we employ at McKean Family Law. Whether you need advice about California child support or assistance with any other child custody issues, McKean can help. Contact us at (916) 666-7874 to make an appointment to review your situation.