Hello
I have an agreement with my ex-wife and there is a court order in place however the visitation schedule we’re using now is one we agreed upon outside of court. My question is, how should vacation time work? The problem I’m having is we agreed on 14 days vacation time to be taken in 2 blocks of 7 days. I sent her notice of our vacation well over a month in advance and she is arguing that I cannot take my vacation time outside of my usual visitation time. In other words, I’m “supposed” to use my visiting weekend as the first 4 days and only take the last 3 days after that. I am trying to take two blocks, because there is not a 7 day consecutive stretch between my regular visitation time. I proposed one 4 day and one 3 day stretch which is the only way I can take the time outside of my regular visitation schedule. For clarification, I offered that I take my son 6/12 till 6/15, my regular visit dates are 6/16 till 6/19, and the 2nd block from 6/20 till 6/22, followed by my regular visitation time of 6/23 till 6/26. She is arguing that I cannot take my son for 12 total days and need to schedule my vacations on my weekends. I feel that’s silly because you don’t use vacation or sick time on the weekends at work, that’s in addition to your already scheduled days off.
It depends on exactly what your custody agreement/order says, but generally nonconsecutive weeks of vacation are to start on or encompass that parent’s regularly scheduled weekend. Some orders say this specifically, some don’t.
If you are entitled to two nonconsecutive weeks of vacation, then you cannot take 12 overnights in a row. Unless defined differently in your custody agreement/order, a nonconsecutive week is seven consecutive overnights.
The exception to this would be for parents that use a 2-2-5 custody schedule, a parent may take seven overnights beginning on their regularly scheduled weekend but their regular custody schedule may start a few days before the vacation week or the vacation week may end with a few days left in their regular custody schedule. This sometimes results in 9 overnights.
Anna Ayscue
Attorney with Rosen Law Firm Cary • Chapel Hill • Durham • Raleigh • Wake Forest
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