There are plenty of fun ways to commemorate your first Valentine’s Day after filing for divorce or after your divorce becomes final, but some of them are inadvisable, especially if you have minor children. For example, resist the temptation to participate in the Chicago Brookfield Zoo’s Valentine’s Day event or a similar one being hosted at the Bronx Zoo. The zoo will post a Cockroach Naming Board outside the hissing cockroach exhibit. Members of the public can send in the first names of their ex-spouses and ex-partners for the zoo to display on the board. On the surface, it sounds like harmless fun, a much cheaper thrill than getting drunk at a bar and flirting with someone better-looking than your ex. In the eyes of the family law court, however, if you publicly compare your ex to a hissing cockroach, you are the one hissing, and the Virginia courts adopt a strict policy of no hissing about your ex in front of your children. For help drafting or enforcing a parenting plan that does not leave you so frustrated that you feel like hissing, contact a Clintwood family law attorney.
Think Before Giving Your Inner Taylor Swift Access to Your Social Media Accounts
Most couples in the process of divorce will finalize a parenting plan during divorce mediation. The parenting plan determines which parent is with the children on which days of the year, including holidays. The court then calculates child support based on the parenting plan and the parents’ respective incomes. If the parents cannot agree on a parenting plan, the court decides based on the best interests of the children, which it determines based on a long list of factors, including but not limited to preserving continuity in the children’s routines and, in the case of teenagers, the children’s preference. The court also considers it in the children’s best interest when each parent encourages the children to have a stable relationship with the other parent. It assumes that children deserve a strong relationship with both parents.
Trying to make your ex-spouse look bad will backfire if you are trying to get more parenting time. Likewise, saying negative things about your ex in front of your children will only count against you. Talking trash about your ex or your ex’s new partner on social media is also a terrible idea. Except with your closest family members and friends, you should keep a stiff upper lip about how hard it is to co-parent with your spouse and how angry your ex makes you, at least until your children reach adulthood.
Contact Greg Baker Attorneys at Law PLLC About Parenting Plans and Co-Parenting
The lawyers at Greg Baker Attorneys at Law PLLC serve the southwestern Virginia community in family law cases and other areas of the law. Contact Greg Baker Attorneys at Law PLLC to set up a consultation.