Divorce proceedings can be a difficult and painful experience for all involved, including the children. This is doubly true if they are old enough to understand what is going on. It is only natural that they may develop opinions on some of the issues pending in your divorce. However, in some instances, their opinions will actually carry weight with the judge. Nowhere is this more common than with issues involving parenting time.

How Much Weight to Give?

When parenting time arrangements are left to be determined by a family court judge, he or she must take into account a number of several factors. A child’s preference may be one of them, though it will not necessarily receive more consideration than other elements, including:

While it may seem that your children just went back to school a few short weeks ago, the reality is that the current school year will soon be drawing to a close. Of course, children spend much of the academic year looking forward to summer vacation, but many parents face difficulties during the summer months in regard to finding appropriate child care and keeping the kids out of trouble. For divorced, separated, or unmarried parents, the issues can be even more challenging, as summer vacation is often treated as a special circumstance in a court-approved parenting plan.

Common Arrangements

It is not unusual for a child whose parents are divorced to spend a significant portion of the summer break with the parent he or she tends to see less during the school year. Such an arrangement is actually fairly common in many parenting plans. For example, if your child resides primarily with you during the school year and spends alternating weekends with his or her other parent, the other parent may be given several straight weeks of parenting time during the summer. This type of situation, however, is not feasible for every family. Work schedules, summer camps, and other complications may require you and your child’s other parent to develop a more creative solution.

The father of a 4-year-old girl is dead following a shooting during what was supposed to be a parenting time exchange of the child. The incident occurred at a Shell gas station in East Memphis, Tennessee. While it is yet unclear what may have led to the fatal shooting, the tragic outcome highlights the need for courts in every state to be aware of potentially volatile parenting situations whenever possible.

Unusual Dropoff Location

According to reports from local news outlets, the victim was a 29-year-old man and father of a 4-year-old little girl. He was reportedly dropping the girl off to her mother—the man’s ex-wife—for a relatively routine parenting time exchange. The man’s family, however, claims that the choice of location was not normal, saying that his ex-wife typically would come to his house to pick up the girl.

The bond between grandparents and their grandchildren is special. Sunday trips to their home for family dinner or perhaps a week or two during the summer can leave lasting memories for the grandchildren as well as the grandparents. The bond is different from that of a parental bond. However, divorce can often weaken that bond.

The divorcing parent may withhold visitation or any type of involvement in the child’s life to the parents of the exiting spouse. Grandparents.com, an organization dedicated to the sanctity of all things grandparents, recently pondered if grandparents have enough rights when it comes to visitation post divorce.

In June 2000, the U.S. Supreme court passed down a 6–3 decision in the Troxel v. Granville case. This decision became the basis for grandparent rights. The ruling, although a bit ambiguous, permits any third party interested in visitation rights to petition the courts, often leaving the burden of proof for the grandparents to establish their request as in the best interest of the child.