Family Lawyer
There are many aspects of child custody that, while they are very important, are often overlooked according to a child visitation lawyer from Brandy Austin Law Firm, PLLC. One of these aspects is schooling, or specifically in this case homeschooling. The decision to homeschool your child is a big one, and sharing custody of the child in question can further complicate the matter. Before making such a decision many things must be considered in order to ensure that the best interests of the child and both parents are upheld. By reading this article, parents can be assured that they are making the correct decisions regarding homeschooling for their child.
The first part of homeschooling that must be addressed is which parent gets to decide if the child is going to be homeschooled. To understand how this would work, one would have to understand what legal custody is. Legal custody is the type of custody that regards the child’s education, medical care, general upbringing of the child, and all decisions that would not have to do with where the child would reside during certain times. Usually, the legal custody of the child is split between both parents so this decision would have to be a joint one. There may also be a clause in the custody agreement that states what to do “if the parents disagree” on certain major decisions that can be used here. However, if one parent has sole legal custody of the child in question, they alone can make the decision to homeschool that child. The only way around this would be to go back to court to have the custody order amended so that both parents would have joint legal custody. This would be the first major hurdle that would need to be passed over in order to further discuss how homeschooling would work for your child. If both parents are in agreement that homeschooling is right for their child then there are a few more things that must be considered before going through with that decision.
The next potential problem that must be addressed is visitation. Under normal circumstances, visitation for a child would follow along with their school district’s calendar. This would allow for fewer disagreements about holiday visitation as it would align with what days the child is out of school for that holiday. For example, changes to a normal visitation schedule that would be made during the summer months would simply begin after the child’s last day of school, without the parents having to personally figure out a date that works for both of them. However, homeschooled
children do not have a calendar that can be followed for visitation, which presents a problem. There are two possible solutions to this problem. One would be to simply use the school calendar of the district that the child would attend if they were not homeschooled. This would again prevent issues regarding holiday visitation as parents would not be the party creating the calendar. If one parent doesn’t want to follow that specific school calendar, then both parents may have to go back to court to modify the custody agreement to specify which school calendar should be followed. The second solution would be for the parents to create an entirely new visitation schedule that would align with the child’s homeschooling schedule. This will take a bit more work to achieve but may be the best option depending on the type of homeschooling that is chosen for your child.
When it comes to making the decision to homeschool your child, much research must be done to ensure this decision is the right one. Hopefully, by reading this article parents can be better prepared to make such an important choice. If you are in need of a family law lawyer to help with custody issues, contact one near you immediately.
