Did your school district recently add a holiday break or change the school week?
Various school districts in and around Denton County, Texas have started changing their holiday schedules as well as their weekday attendance. If you are sharing custody of a child or are involved in a divorce with children, it is imperative that you discuss the changes to the school district calendars with your attorney. The default schedules for standard possession or expanded standard possession promulgated by the Texas Family Code do not incorporate possession and access for these ever-changing school districts at this time–and if your lawyer has not checked the district calendar(s) for your specific family, you may be setting yourself up for failure.
For example, a number of school districts have added a fall break in October, which is not enumerated on the calendars published by the various Texas public resources or added to the Texas Family Law manual. In general, holidays rotate on odd and even years, so parent A will have spring break, parent B will have fall break (also known as Thanksgiving break), parent A will then have the first half of winter break, and parent B will have the second half of winter break–and then this automatically resets for the next year so the parents get to enjoy the holiday periods they did not have the prior year. The addition of the October fall break inherently throws off the balance of the holidays, requiring parents and their attorneys plan ahead.
A number of schools have also shifted to a four-day school week as a standard. Do you know who should have the child now that every weekend will be a three-day weekend? Is childcare available for your child for this single day of the week? Who is paying the cost of that day? If your lawyer isn’t asking you these questions and planning for every possibility, what else might they be missing?
Brittany Weaver and Kaitlyn Phillips are experienced family law attorneys with knowledge of Denton County and the contiguous counties, but are parents pride themselves on watching for these types of changes because they know just how importantly these holidays are for their clients. If you have questions about how these changes impact the Final Decree of Divorce or Order in Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship, contact our office today.
