When parents in Ohio divorce or split up, they often need to develop a plan for child custody and visitation. In some cases, one of the parents may be the primary custodial parent who lives with the children at home for the vast majority of the time, while the other parent enjoys visitation time with the kids. In other cases, both parents may share roughly equal amounts of residential custody, with the children regularly going back between their homes. Different custody arrangements may work better for different families, but transportation, drop-off and custody change logistics are important for almost everyone.
Transportation should be part of the plan
As part of making a child custody agreement, parents may help to avoid later problems by making it clear who is responsible for transportation in various circumstances as part of the parenting plan. When parents do not have this information officially laid out, it can be all too easy for transportation mistakes to lead to conflicts that can be draining for parents and emotionally damaging for children. When parents refuse to deal with transportation, absent a clear agreement, it can later come back against them during proceedings in family court.
In all cases, parents may wish to include specific responsibilities for transportation at specific times, the conditions of transportation (including safety equipment like car seats), costs for transportation and the location for drop-offs, visitation periods and custody exchanges. In high-conflict situations, parents may benefit from a neutral, public drop-off location.
Advice and counsel from a family law attorney
Of course, a transportation agreement does not allow one parent to exclude the other from visitation or custody if there are car problems, cannot afford proper safety equipment or other issues arise. Transportation, scheduling and other child custody concerns might be addressed with the guidance and advice of a family law attorney.
