What constitutes an emergency in custody agreements?

When creating a parenting plan, you and your co-parent should consider emergencies. Anything can happen to either of you or your child. Without emergency planning, you are likely to conflict in such situations.

So, what constitutes an emergency in a custody agreement?

Medical emergency 

What steps should you follow if your child becomes sick or injured? 

It’s vital to have a plan for medical emergencies. For example, the parent with the child can take them to the hospital and make every effort to contact the other.

Consider using a shared platform that allows you to upload your child’s medical documents. This way, either parent can easily access needed documents in a medical emergency.

Parental emergencies

Emergencies in a co-parenting plan do not only involve the child. The parents may also have an emergency. You may fall sick, your employer may ask you to go on an unexpected business trip on the weekend you should be with your child, or you may get a flat tire on your way to pick up your child from school or the other parent’s house or you may need to travel out of town suddenly to take care of your parent’s emergency and so on. 

Anything that can prevent you from being with your child during your scheduled time can constitute an emergency.

So, how can you handle such situations? By having a detailed plan. 

Your co-parenting plan should have detailed steps to be followed if one of you can’t be with the child when required. Additionally, agree on a reasonable time frame for requests. When you request in advance, the other parent can move things around in their schedule sooner.

Emergencies can be expected in co-parenting. Obtain more information to create a detailed emergency plan to avoid misunderstandings.