While divorce can be difficult for a couple, it can be especially hard on any children they share. Divorcing parents will want to consider their children’s feelings and help them adjust to a new situation as smoothly as possible. When determining child custody arrangements, it is important to create a parenting time (visitation) schedule which ensures that both parents and children know when children will be in the care of each parent. Here are some tips for how to make a clear and concise parenting time schedule:

Parenting Time Schedules and Exceptions

The first step in creating a schedule is to determine which parent children will spend time with on a day-to-day basis. This will be the regular schedule your children will be most familiar with. The frequency of when parents will exchange children will depend on the type of child custody agreement. If parents share joint custody, children may stay with each parent in alternating weeks or on different days during the week. While children may not want to pack up and move to a new house every couple of days, they will also do not want to get too comfortable in one house before they have to change houses again. Finding a happy medium that allows both parents to spend quality time with their children is key.

Other considerations will apply if one parent has sole or primary custody, while children spend smaller amounts of parenting time with the other parent. In these cases, it is important to create a parenting time schedule that allows children to have the time they need with both parents.

The choice to get a divorce is a hard decision to make, and the process of ending a marriage can take a great deal of time, money, and energy. Needless to say, few people take the decision to divorce lightly. If you are not completely positive that divorce is your only option, a legal separation might be a better option, and one that is easier to reverse if you do decide to stay married. However, it is important to understand how each of these options will affect your finances, the custody of your children, and the benefits you can receive. If you are considering separation, you should work with an experienced attorney to ensure that you understand your rights and the processes that will be followed.

Legal Separation vs. Divorce

The main difference between legal separation and divorce is that during legal separation, you will remain legally married, while divorce will end your marriage. With a legal separation, you can maintain health insurance, life insurance, and Social Security benefits from your partner. If you get a divorce, you will no longer be eligible for these spousal benefits. In addition, in a legal separation, spouses are still considered next of kin and can make medical and financial decisions that affect each other. Spouses who are legally separated will also continue to be responsible for each other’s debts.

If you have chosen to legally separate in order to maintain certain benefits, this means that you will still be legally tied to your spouse. While you can begin a relationship with a new partner, you will not be able to get remarried until you have legally ended your marriage through divorce.

Job loss is hard at any time, but losing your job while you are going through divorce can be especially difficult. Since divorce will already have a large impact on your finances, the loss of your job is likely to make things even more complicated. When making decisions during the divorce process, it is important to consider all aspects of your financial situation, and a skilled attorney can help you understand how your employment will affect the outcome of your case.

Layoffs

In today’s unstable economic climate, it is hard to predict when companies will need to lay off employees. If you lose your job due to a layoff while you are going through divorce, it is important to let the court know of your situation. Since layoffs tend not to be the fault of an individual, the change in your financial situation should be taken into consideration in court. If you are required to pay spousal maintenance or child support, you may be able to adjust the amount of your obligations while you are actively looking for employment.

It is a sad statistic, but over 50% of marriages will end in divorce. Ending your marriage is not something that you decide to do spontaneously, but a decision that is weighed heavily before you act upon it. If you are planning on a divorce, it is important to think ahead and prepare for what you want your life to look like after the divorce has been finalized. This will help you avoid making irrational decisions and make sure that you come out of the situation with a plan for success. You will want to be sure to consider the following areas:

Finances

It is important to have a firm understanding of your financial situation before you file for divorce. This is necessary so that you know how much you will need in order to live independently. If you are seeking spousal maintenance (alimony) or expect to receive child support, you should consider how these payments will factor into your overall financial situation, but it is best to plan conservatively and limit your expenses as much as possible. Even if your divorce is mutual, both you and your former spouse will each be trying to gain as much financial advantage as possible, so you will want to be prepared for multiple possible outcomes.

Job Security

Regardless of how much alimony or child support you may receive, it is important to develop your own financial independence. If it seems that you might struggle to make ends meet on a single income, consider going back to school or enrolling in a work-training program to further your job qualifications. If you start your training or school before beginning the divorce process, the money spent to further these goals may be considered marital expenses rather than separate expenses.

Those who are looking to adopt a child may give an orphan the opportunity to have a future family and home, and this can be very beneficial for everyone involved. There are children all over the world who need homes, and international adoption allows parents to provide these children with the family life they need. However, the adoption process can be lengthy and difficult, and if you are considering adopting a child from another country, the legal steps to follow can be even more complicated and stressful. In recent years, countries like Ethiopia, South Korea, Romania, Guatemala, China, Kazakhstan, and Russia have all reduced the number of international adoptions allowed. In fact, between 2005 and 2015, international adoptions dropped by 72 percent, decreasing from 46,000 to 12,000, with only 5,500 children being adopted by U.S. parents.

Claims Regarding the Safety of Children

When reducing the number of international adoptions, some countries have stated that these decisions were made to ensure the safety of adoptive children. When banning or curtailing international adoptions to the U.S., Russia and Ethiopia both cited cases of negligence from American parents which resulted in a child’s death. However, research has shown that in the past two decades, only 19 children who were adopted from Russia by U.S. parents died because of abuse or neglect, out of a total of 60,000 adoptive children. This statistic has led some to believe that these bans are not motivated by a desire for child safety, but are in fact related to international politics.

Politics and International Adoption

International relations heavily impact whether or not a country will allow its children to be adopted by parents from another country. For example, Russia stopped adoptions to the United States two weeks after the U.S passed the Magnitsky Act in 2012. This law imposed sanctions on some Russian officials who had been accused of corruption, and the adoption ban was apparently implemented in response. This is far from the only instance of adoption bans being motivated by politics; South Korea temporarily banned international adoptions after a bad year at the 1988 Olympics, and it was believed that they no longer wanted to “export their greatest commodity.”