under construction
50-50 PARENTING PLANS
50-50 bribe Mom, take away her home court advantage at TO hearing
50-50 is a good idea during the interlocutory period because it gives the trial judge a look at both parents as single parents, and 50-50 is great for infants and pre-schoolers, but as kids get older, they make friends & acquire stuff and need a real home. 50-50 means living out of a suitcase and too often what they need is in the other house.
50-50 kids don't have two homes; they have no home.
Too often, 50-50 is about parents who don't want to lose to the other parent and
judges who won't make the tough calls; 50-50 is NOT about the BIOTC.
What's ironic is the more equally qualified the parents are to be PRP, the less important it is to make the right choice, and in the limit (equally qualified) there is no wrong choice.
I wrote these words in my first trial brief, and they're still true today:
"The young CASA volunteer has a good heart, but what he doesn't realize is when Mommy and Daddy don't live together anymore, it is impossible for the children to continue to live with both of them. One must step back."
P.S. -- Every rule has its exceptions. I have seen some cases where 50-50 worked fine:
Mom and Dad lived across the street from each other.
Mom and Dad were both firefighters; they often did hand-offs of their infant child at unusual times, like midnight.
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50-50 and child support, federal income tax deductions, etc.
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50-50 and relocation act fights, major mods, etc.
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a pitfall for the unwary: "custodian for purposes of other law"
example: Hague Convention