Custody Agreement Question
From
Rick@21:1/5 to
All on Fri Nov 26 21:47:41 2021
Husband and wife divorce and share 50-50 custody of their one child. State
of Florida. Child basically spends three days with each parent during week
and they alternate Sundays. Child normally never spends more than three consecutive days with one parent.
Custody agreement includes a clause allowing each parent to have two "vacations" each year with child where they borrow days from the other
parent so they have more than the normal three days. The relevant portion
of the paragraph governing that states:
"Each parent has the option to take the minor child on two six-day vacations each year (not to be taken consecutively)...The traveling parent shall give
the other parent at least 30 days' notice of the dates and will provide an itinerary of where the child and parent will be staying at least seven days
in advance of the vacation..."
Two paragraphs below is a paragraph that states:
"Out-of-State Travel: Either parent may travel with the child in the United States during his/her time-sharing, upon notice to the other parent as described above."
One of the parties wants to take the child across the state border to visit
an attraction in a neighboring state and return the same day with no
overnight stay. This would be part of their normal three days, so the
six-day "vacation" paragraph does not need to be invoked. The question is - under terms of the agreement, does the parent have to notify the other
parent of the brief crossing of the state border to see the attraction?
On one hand, the "Out-of-State Travel" clause seems to suggest you have to provide notice when you leave the state. But the actual sentence in this paragraph says that travel anywhere in the United States is permitted, which would encompass travel within state or even from one side of the city to the other. Clearly, the parties do not notify one another when traveling within state, so this sentence as written could be taken to read that you only have
to provide notice if you meet the requirements of the "above" paragraph,
which deals with borrowing days for six-day vacations.
Note: I'm not asking if the parent SHOULD notify the other parent as a
matter of courtesy or full disclosure, etc., only whether it is legally required based on the way the custody agreement is written.
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