Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines revisions Part I

The Domestic Relations Committee [DRC] of the Indiana Judicial Center prepared the first set of revisions to the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines in session on Friday 16 July 2010.

The Committee presented four revised sections of the Guidelines concerning the first three of seventeen topics. They were, the Holiday Parenting Time Schedule, Weekends generally and, Summer vacation. The first revision made was to the portion of the guidelines that has provided the greatest confusion to judges, lawyers and parents which is as follows:

D. HOLIDAY PARENTING TIME SCHEDULE

1. Conflicts Between Regular and Holiday Weekends.
"The Holiday Parenting Time Schedule shall take precedence over regularly scheduled and extended parenting time. Extended parenting time takes precedence over regular parenting time unless otherwise indicated in these Guidelines.
If the non-custodial parent misses a regular weekend because it is the custodial parent’s holiday, the regular alternating parenting time schedule will resume following the holiday. If the non-custodial parent receives two consecutive weekends because of a holiday, the regular alternating parenting time schedule will resume the following weekend with the custodial parent."

This has been interpreted in various ways to mean that the alternating weekend schedule is changed and no parent gets more than two weekends in a row, that the non custodial parent is limited to two consecutive weekends while the custodial is limited to three weekends or that either parent may in practice get three consecutive weekends.

The proposed language will read:

"Alternating weekends shall be maintained through-out the year as follows. If a parent misses a regular weekend because it is the other parent's holiday then that weekend is lost. If a parent received three (3) consecutive weekends then the alternating weekend parenting time resumes on the following weekend."

Some parents have, by their own initiative, used a two consecutive weekend schedule for each parent when their is a holiday conflict. Essentially the second and third weekends are reversed and the regular schedule resumes on the fourth weekend also.

My son, Therin Showalter, was telling me how he liked it better when his mother and I did the two weekend schedule rather than three. The committee chair, Judge Fee, gave him an opportunity to speak to the Committee on this issue. Ultimately it was decided to go with the three consecutive weekend format but commentary would be added to encourage parents to do the two weekend format if they choose.

The second portion adds a section to "2. Holiday Schedule" which concerns a conflict between the child's birthday and other holidays. The added section is as follows:

"[5] When the child's birthday falls within a Special Day, Holiday or Christmas Vacation the child's birthday shall remain with the parent having the child during the Special Day, Holiday or Christmas Vacation."

The third scheduling change was made to the Christmas Vacation and New Year's Day holiday schedules. This is another section that has been quite confusing to many and created an imbalance in splitting the time or resulted in a very convoluted schedule.

The Committee has wisely chosen to eliminate the New Year's Day holiday. The entire Christmas Vacation will now be divided in half. The Christmas Vacation period will begin two hours after the dismissal of school and end at 6:00pm on the day before school is scheduled to resume. The exchange time must occur between 9:00am and 9:00pm.

In odd numbered years the non custodial parent shall have the first half and in even numbered years the custodial parent shall have the first half of the break. In those years when Christmas does not fall in a parent's week, that parent shall have the child(ren) from Noon to 9:00pm on Christmas Day.

The final scheduling change was the addition of Martin Luther King Day and Presidents Day to the Holidays section. Parents who have the children on the weekend immediately preceding those days will keep the children overnight on Sunday if the children's school system is not in session on either or both of those holidays.

The final change by the Committee was a clarification of section "C. Holidays" which reads:

"In years ending with an even number, the non-custodial parent shall exercise the following parenting time:" and list the particular holidays. Following that is; "In years ending with an odd number, the non-custodial parent shall exercise the following parenting time:"

It was mentioned that it needs to be mentioned what the corresponding schedule is even though it seems obvious that the schedules reverse in the next year. I submitted the following language which was added to the revised Guidelines;

"The following Holidays shall be exercised by the non-custodial parent in odd years and the custodial parent in even years." and then "The following Holidays shall be exercised by the non-custodial parent in even years and the custodial parent in odd years." for the second section of holidays.

The Committee will meet again on Friday 20 August 2010. The two topics for that meeting will be, Using the IPTG to plan ahead, using the calendar and the tone of cooperation and Relocation.

The Committee is scheduled to complete their proposed revisions by 18 March 2011. The completed revised guidelines will then be posted for public comment. I invite you to contact me with any comments that you would like presented to the Committee.

I intend to be in attendance at all meetings. At the previous meeting on 21 May 2010 I was joined by Robert Monday of PACE, Jason Cannon and Randy Conrad both of Indiana Shared Parenting which is a companion group to Indiana Custodial Rights Advocates.

The Committee is made up of members Craig Bobay, Francis G Hill, Karen M Love, Sheryl L Lynch, Lynn Murray, Nanette K Raduenz, Frederick A Schurger, Deborah 'Debbie' J Shook, Richard R Stalbrink, Dean A Young, William C Fee.

Members of the public are invited to attend the meetings which usually take about five hours. Please watch for future posts about upcoming meetings.


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