Your Child’s Academic Progress And Your Parenting Plan

When the court creates a custody plan for a child, it considers a variety of factors about the child’s life and personal needs to determine the plan that is in his or her best interest. One substantial aspect of a child’s life is his or her academic progress. Whether a child is in kindergarten or high school, his or her academic needs and progress are an important consideration when developing a child custody schedule.

Your Child’s Academic Needs are Considered when Developing a Parenting Plan

Working a child’s academic needs into a parenting plan is not always simple. If one or both parents move out of the school district where they lived during their marriage, the child will have to change schools. Which parent’s new district offers stronger academic opportunities is a consideration, but not the only one. Another important consideration for the court is each parent’s level of day-to-day involvement in the child’s school life, like helping with homework and meeting with teachers.

Another consideration that could come up if one parent remains in the original district is whether moving to a new school would have a negative impact on the child. The benefits of changing schools could outweigh any negative impact that occurs, or the opposite can happen and the court may determine that the child should remain at the school he or she currently attends. If the child is old enough to voice a coherent, well-developed preference about where to attend school, the court may consider the child’s opinion in its development of his or her parenting plan.

Where a child attends school can impact his or her time sharing arrangement, and in certain cases, the time sharing arrangement is what dictates which school the child will attend. The court has the discretion to determine which factors are most important when developing an appropriate parenting plan for a child.

Shared Parental Responsibilities Mean the Shared Right to Make Decisions About a Child’s Education

Custody is split into two categories: time sharing and parental responsibilities. The latter category is the right to make impactful decisions on a child’s behalf, such as the religion in which he or she will be raised and decisions about his or her schooling. When parents have joint legal custody, which is often the case, both have the right to weigh in on decisions about the child’s academics, such as where he or she will attend school, whether he or she will receive private tutoring or test prep services, and how issues like diagnosing learning disabilities and managing behavior issues at school will be handled.

Work with an Experienced Tampa Family Lawyer

As a parent, it is your job to nurture your child’s intellectual development and encourage academic success. Ideally, your former spouse will be a colleague in this job. To learn more about parenting plans and how your child’s schooling fits into a parenting plan, contact our team of experienced Tampa family lawyers at Bubley & Bubley, P.A. today to set up your initial consultation in our office.

Resource:

leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0061/Sections/0061.13.html