The Advantages of a Parenting Plan
By Eric Fredrickson
Oct. 18, 2010 9:25a
If you are divorcing your spouse in the state of Texas and have children together, then the courts will require that you and your spouse develop what is now referred to as a parenting plan. In 2005, the 79th Texas Legislature made changes to the Texas family code. They introduced parenting plans,which took effect on September 1, 2005.
"Parenting plan" means a temporary or final court order that sets out the rights and duties of parents in a divorce, affecting the parent-child relationship. The parenting plan includes provisions relating to custody, possession, access to the child, child support and it contains a dispute resolution process in order to minimize any future disputes. Texas courts prefer that parents come to an agreement on their own as to what is in the best interest of their children. A parenting plan gives them the opportunity to make those decisions together and to lay them out in an organized plan that enters into a court order.
Parenting Plans
Your parenting plan is the most important document in your divorce. It will outline child support, custody and visitation. It will determine what religion your child will be raised in, who will get the child on which holidays, where the child will go to school, travel arrangements, extracurricular activities and it will determine adjustments and modifications as your child's needs change and as they grow.
If you and your spouse cannot come to an agreement, you will be required to see a third party (mediator) in order to help you both come to an agreement. The parenting plan is now a requirement in Texas family law, in which case a Judge will have to approve the document and will in fact make it a court order in the divorce. If the Judge does not think that an aspect of the parenting plan is in the child's best interests, then he will send it back to both you and your spouse for revisions.
If you are getting a divorce in Houston or the surrounding areas, a Houston child visitation attorney at the Law Offices of Eric Fredrickson can help you develop a well thought out parenting plan for your child/children. Your children's future is very important and shouldn't be determined without the help of a skilled Houston child visitation lawyer.
Contact a Houston Child Visitation Attorney at our office today for a free case evaluation.
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