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Spouses who undergo divorce always have an uphill battle when it comes to making decisions concerning their children. Even though their romantic life has ended, they must come with a plan that has the details of how the children will be handled after the divorce. This is what is referred to as a parenting plan or agreement. If you want to divorce in Ontario and don’t know how to come up with a good parenting agreement, you may seek help from a qualified family lawyer.

What Is A Parenting Agreement?

A parenting agreement dictates how both parents will bring up their children after separation or divorce. This involves arrangements on how children should be visited, schools they should attend, or other important details that may affect their lives. Regardless of whether you have contested divorce or uncontested divorce, you have to come up with a good parenting schedule which should be in the best interest of your children. A detailed parenting agreement can help both parents have a predictable plan on how each parent should conduct themselves when handling their children. Even if it’s not mandatory to have a parenting agreement in your state, you may choose to prepare one to offset any adverse effects you may have after your divorce.

What To Include In Your Parenting Agreement

To have a workable parenting plan, you need to factor in the below points:

• Child custody:Your agreement should indicate who will be the custodial parent. The most common agreement is to have joint custody. However, there are times a parent may decide on sole or split custody. For the joint custody, it’s the best if both of you want to be involved in making significant decisions on the upbringing of your children.
• Child visitation:There should be a visitation schedule to ensure that children have equal time with their parents. The plan should also include who is to pay for transportation during visitation and the time to pick and to drop. You should have a set amount of time for each parent to spend with the children. Setting time is most important to the non-custodial parent. This helps to minimize any disorder on who may visit the children and at what time.
• Child Support:Despite the divorce, both parents have an obligation to support their children financially. The plan should indicate who is to support the children financially. Before a judge grants a divorce, he/she has to make sure the financial support is appropriate. You will come up with a figure that will be paid depending on your income, the number of children, and the province or territory where you live. To do this, you should use the child support guidelines based on your province, territory, or the federal guidelines.

In most cases, parent always find themselves torn between decisions on how to come up with a parenting schedule. But this is made easy with the help of a lawyer. For more information on how you can create a workable parenting plan, you may consider hiring an experienced family lawyer.