As winter approaches, families throughout Illinois may be planning their holiday celebrations and the travel they will undertake to visit with family members and friends. While the holidays can be a wonderful time of year for parents and children alike, it can also be a very difficult time for families that are split due to divorce. Parents can find themselves struggling to work with their co-parents when they cannot agree about how and where they will each see their kids during holiday celebrations.

Parents caught in this difficult conundrum can always turn to their controlling custody and visitation documents for information on this topic. Many parents choose to address the holidays in their parenting plans, and different schedules may be established to accommodate the various needs of families. Individuals’ family law attorneys can help them work out the details of their custody schedules to find suitable answers.

If parents wish to change the way that their holiday custody schedules are structured, then they may need to file paperwork with the courts to seek modifications to their custody and visitation plans. Doing so can take time, though, which is why parents who wish to follow this path may need the support of their lawyers to ensure that the proper procedures are followed.

It can help during the holidays for parents to put aside their differences and work for the benefit of their shared children. When legal hurdles prevent them from putting their kids first, the assistance of supportive legal counsel can make a difference. This post offers no specific legal guidance, and readers are reminded that their own child custody situations may resolve differently that the examples provided herein.