If you have children with your soon-to-be ex-spouse, you may be grappling with conservatorship. Commonly called custody, conservatorship addresses parenting time, decision-making and other child-related matters. If you and your spouse want to share custody, you are likely to have a joint-managing conservatorship.
According to Psychology Today, joint-managing conservatorships can be good for everyone in the family. Still, you and your co-parent are going to need some time to adjust to the arrangement. Taking steps to get your custody transfers right can make them considerably easier and safer.
Custody transfers
Your child custody transfers are likely to occur at least one time every week, as these transfers happen when your parenting time begins and ends. That is, your kids go from being with you during your parenting time to being with their other parent during his or hers.
Contentious meetings
If you and your ex-spouse still have some beef, it probably is not difficult to see how your custody transfers can become contentious. Luckily, you can keep disagreements in check by employing a few simple strategies. Among others, these include the following:
- Packing your children’s necessary items
- Dressing your kids appropriately
- Arriving at the transfer on time
- Communicating changes in plans early
Contingency planning
If you think your ex-spouse is likely to start a fight during your custody transfers, it may make sense to conduct them in a public place or even at a police precinct. Nevertheless, with reasonable co-parents, this type of contingency planning usually is not necessary.
Ultimately, while your custody transfers may take some time to adjust to initially, they are likely to become routine faster than you expect.