As a divorcing parent in Minnesota, you are encouraged to create and follow a detailed parenting plan. A Minnesota parenting plan addresses important factors that impact your children, including visitation (parenting time) and holiday schedules, education, health care, religion and more. The more detailed the plan, the better equipped you and your parenting partner will be to successfully manage future parenting disagreements. Once created, your mutual commitment to follow the parenting plan is the single most significant factor in determining whether or not you and your parenting partner will be able to problem solve independently or whether you will need third-party and/or court involvement.

As you make decisions about parenting time, it is important to remain objective and realistic. For example, if you work every weekend, it does not make sense to seek significant weekend parenting time. Similarly, if you work until 6 p.m. each evening, it may not be realistic to have the children to come to your home after school.

It is important to maintain consistency in your children’slives wherever possible, including for their extracurricular activity commitments. If your child has soccer practice every Tuesday, the parenting time schedule should accommodate that commitment. As parents you may disagree about the importance of extracurricular activities and moving forward you will need a way to manage those differences while protecting the children from conflict and allowing them a full and varies growing-up experience.

No detail is too small when planning school breaks and holidays; therefore a detailed parenting plan must specify how to share these important events. For example, you may adopt a different parenting time schedule over the summer. It is also necessary to identify start and stop times for each holiday in advance just in case you are unable to reach a mutual agreement on a particular holiday – do this greatly reduces the occurrence of future disputes about holidays and ensures your (or the children’s) holidays will not be ruined by a disagreement.  Remember, everything about parenting is changing – you are working to create a “new normal” and that is a difficult task. Not every tradition can be maintained, new traditions will eventually take shape. The important thing is that your children have meaningful holiday time with each parent.

To avoid future litigation, you should also include a provision for relocation and school placement. How will you handle these issues if one parent moves away? What restrictions and/or approvals are needed? That provision may include a requirement to attend mediation to determine how a pending relocation will be handled.

A MESSAGE FROM AMS, LLC - RE: COVID-19

The safety of clients, ourselves, and colleagues is our top priority while we remain available to assist you as you navigate the new and uncharted territory caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Offering All Services Virtually

While providing virtual ADR services was not part of our plan, we have made the necessary accommodations to ensure we can continue to serve our clients during these unsettling times. All services are currently available through virtually. We are using Zoom for videoconferencing. We suggest that you download this app to your phone or the program to your computer at https://zoom.us/download.

 

Limited In-Person Services

We have resumed limited in-person services for sessions with 1 or 2 participants scheduled for a maximum of 2 hours. Masks are required in our building and in session. Availability is subject to change based on local regulations and CDC guidelines.

 

Office Hours

Our office hours remain the same and we remain available by phone and email. The main office number is 952.252.1492. Gabe can be reached via email at gabe@amsmediationplus.com.

 

New Clients Welcome

We offer free 1-hour divorce consultations via Zoom. Potential PC and PTE clients are invited to schedule a free 15-minute phone call. Please call 952.252.1492 to set up an appointment. We are here to help!

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we all continue to adapt to these rapidly changing and chaotic times. Stay strong, stay resilient, and stay healthy!

 

Sincerely,
Amber Serwat & Gabe Frye
ADR Professional & ADR Assistant

Divorce Mediation & Dispute Resolution Services - Amber Serwat Mediation

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