Heather Quick, owner and attorney for Florida Women’s Law Group talks Parenting Plans in episode 36. She dives into defining parenting plans, what to include in your parenting plan and what apps to use for co-parenting.
Struggling to create a parenting plan that works for both you and your ex?
In this episode of Women Winning Divorce, Heather Quick and Julie Morgan tackle the complexities of parenting plans, a crucial aspect of co-parenting that can greatly impact your family’s well-being. This discussion is especially relevant if you’re facing challenges in creating a fair and workable time-sharing agreement.
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Listen now to gain practical advice on developing a parenting plan that supports a positive and functional co-parenting relationship.
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Women Winning Divorce
Episode 36
Understanding Parenting Plans
Julie Morgan:
Welcome to Women Winning Divorce with your host Heather. Quick. Heather brings over 20 years of law experience that advocates and empowers women to achieve happier and healthier lives. Each week we provide knowledge and guidance on different aspects of family law to help lead women through the difficult and emotional legal challenges that they are facing. Listen in as she discusses issues including divorce, custody, alimony, paternity, narcissism, mediation, and other family law issues to provide insight on the journey of women winning divorce. Welcome to the show. I'm Julie Morgan and I'm joined by your host, Heather Quick, how's it going Heather?
Heather Quick:
It is going great. How are you doing today?
Julie Morgan:
I'm doing very well, thank you. I was thinking about the storm that just came through that really devastated southwest Florida. Didn't do too much here in Jacksonville. Our thoughts are definitely with those in southwest Florida, but I ate too much of my goodies.
Heather Quick:
Oh, that can happen, can't it? There's raining, not a lot to do.
Julie Morgan:
Exactly.
Heather Quick:
Eat a little bit extra. I hear you.
Julie Morgan:
I ate a lot of bit extra, but we're not going to care.
Heather Quick:
Well, you got to do what you got to do to get through it.
Julie Morgan:
Exactly. See, Heather, you speak my language.
Heather Quick:
I understand you. I do.
Julie Morgan:
I appreciate that. So today's topic is parenting plans. Let me ask you this, Heather, does the state of Florida tend to favor one parent over the other?
Heather Quick:
They really don't. Despite maybe my personal beliefs and bias, it has become more equal, at least in the way the statute is. I think that certainly does reflect the society now. As far as parents involvement with their children and fathers being actively involved in the raising parenting of their kids, it's more common than it was even 20 years ago.
Julie Morgan:
Okay. All right, because the first thought that comes to my mind, and I'm sure other people listening to this as well, is that the mother usually gets full custody.
Heather Quick:
And that's just not true. That's why we call it time sharing, not custody because you both remain the parents of the children and you're to share the time. The thing is the way the law is written and approaches this is based on I think ideal situations. That's what we have to remember. You may no longer choose to be married, but you've got to work together to raise your children and communicate. That's why now there is what's called a parenting plan to really help the folks who can't agree or who don't know all the things that they don't know that there will be to agree on. It gives some guidance and more of equality, which if you get along, it's not that big of a deal, if you don't get along, it can just create even more contention I will say.
Julie Morgan:
Okay. Alrighty. So let's talk about this. This is the topic, parenting plans. You touched on it just now, but can you define for me what exactly is a parenting plan?
Heather Quick:
The basic idea of the plan is to outline really the time-sharing agreement, meaning where the children are going to be, the schedule as to they're going to spend say every other Thursday through Monday with dad, and then the opposite with mom. How all the holidays will be outlined, what time the exchanges occur, tries to address those holiday weekends and how do we deal with it when there's a little bit of change to the plan. That applies to children in school because it adapts. It looks at maybe their school-wide calendar overall, so it tends to follow that. It talks about communication and outlining, how are you as the parents going to not only spend time with the children, but how are you going to communicate and what are you going to do? What are you not going to do?
Julie Morgan:
Okay. Is this a requirement?
Heather Quick:
Yes, it is.
Julie Morgan:
Okay. And why is it necessary? It seems like it would be necessary just to make things easier, but it may go deeper than that.
Heather Quick:
It's necessary because a lot of issues come up during the life of your children, and basically these are the rules that you're going to play by. That is if you two can't agree. So there are, I'm sure so many parents get divorced, they have the parenting plan, and things go along just fine. They agree they can adapt it and they still can communicate or whatever. There are others that just cannot. They need rules and guidelines that say this is how often you're going to contact the children. This is how we're going to handle the exchange of the children. This is how we handle the schooling. This is how we're going to handle healthcare. This is how religion will be addressed. You can really get so far into it that it gives you all the rules. It's difficult to do everything, but we have tried to do a pretty good job.
Julie Morgan:
And it sounds like with this particular aspect of the divorce, it's going to take some time to put this together because you named a lot of stuff, time sharing, education, healthcare, that's a lot.
Heather Quick:
It is. And so there are, and I think we've talked about this before, and I know I've used this word, guidelines. There's guidelines that people follow for parenting, guidelines that we follow for child support. So, there is let's say your boiler plate parenting plan, which is a great place to start. Some people, they're like, fine, we just will do that, others want a little more specificity. So, you start with a boiler plate and then you really dig into the different issues. Most of the time we work with our clients, and obviously through the representation, if there have been things that have been at issue, we try to address this in the parenting plan. I foresee this will be an issue in the future and if we can address it now in a parenting plan, that would be ideal."
That is a process that can happen in mediation and when we're working through things. Doesn't happen necessarily in front of a judge because the very specificity of the times and the days, the judge is not going to give you this customized personalized plan. You're going to ask for it, your attorney will, but there are certain things that you're only going to get if the two of you can come to an agreement and compromise.
Julie Morgan:
Okay. So something you said and makes me want to ask you this, there is a basic plan and then you can go from there to really customize it?
Heather Quick:
Yes, that to me is the ideal. That's what we work to do with our clients. And of course, it takes the involvement of both sides. Some people prefer more generalized parenting plans because then there's a little bit more room for interpretation. That works for a lot of couples. Some really want every single thing written down and for some people that's absolutely what they need.
Julie Morgan:
It seems like you can come running to some problems with that one with everything not written down, leaving it up to interpretation.
Heather Quick:
Well yeah, sometimes that's more problematic. That comes in with really, you've got to communicate with your lawyer. You need to know I think this could be an issue." In our expertise, we've done hundreds of these so we can identify things like, I anticipate this could become an issue. What are your thoughts about this? I think this would be something we want to address. That is really how you help folks because otherwise you're going to court and you just don't want to be returning to court often.
Julie Morgan:
But what if I cannot agree on this with my husband? I can't agree on it, will the judge then say, "Okay, well I'm going to do it and this is how it's going to work"?
Heather Quick:
Indeed, he will. He'll hear your side, he'll hear your husband's side during the trial, and that'll be it. Then the judge will make a decision.
Julie Morgan:
All right. But that does not sound like that's the ideal arrangement.
Heather Quick:
It never really is because even in a trial of two or three days, think about it, you have a lot of things that have gone on in a marriage and with your children so that's a very short amount of time. The judge is going to make some decisions. The attorneys are going to draft those out. At the end of the day, I do believe that if you're able, some couples just can't, they can't. But the way I approach it and our team approaches it with clients is, mediation is a time particularly on these parenting plan things, particularly on things that really matter to you, or you believe really matter to you now as far as the time or schooling or whatever, now's the time to do some compromising. Because in mediation is where there may be things you want that you're not going to get in court in from a judge.
That's where you need your lawyer to help you understand, if you want this, you're going to have to give on something else and understand this is the only way to get, say I want them every Christmas Eve. Not going to happen in front of a judge unless your spouse agrees because they alternate that on the holidays. That's just an example. It could be, I want every first half of the summer or, I want to make sure we can go on a family trip and that includes this particular thing. So that is what is very helpful, I think, for anyone going through this process to understand some of these things. You're going to have to be willing to give. Maybe not. Maybe your husband will be like, Fine, I don't care. But be prepared that there may be specific things that are important to him. Again, a judge is going to alternate the holidays and rotate through. That's going to be extremely standard.
Julie Morgan:
Okay. So really, it would behoove you to come up with the agreement before you go before the judge?
Heather Quick:
Absolutely. If it's at all possible, it is always worth mediating and maybe mediating a second time and maybe mediating only on those issues because then you get something more customized and things can be determined between the two of you that a judge just isn't going to do.
Julie Morgan:
Would you say that the parenting plan is where you possibly spend the most time with your clients?
Heather Quick:
Certainly, if that's the big issue. Julie, some cases it is the money. The money really drives everything on, whether it's the support or how the property's going to be divided.We have other cases where it's the children so it's going to vary. But very often, we do spend a lot of time on that.
Julie Morgan:
I wonder when clients come into the office or when they get started with this process, if they really understand how important the parenting plan really is?
Heather Quick:
I think that many folks don't initially because it's just not something they've had to deal with or been within. It seems weird if you've never been divorced and you're like, we have to have this 20-page document to determine how we're going to talk to each other and what we're going to do, and how they're going to transfer the kids and exchange them and holidays? Yeah, it does seem weird, but it's important. I don't know why they started doing this, but I think they found there was too much unknown and so the goal is that this covers so many areas that maybe that can keep these individuals from returning to court because things weren't addressed.
Julie Morgan:
Okay, we need to touch on that. You said the a 20 page document?
Heather Quick:
I knew that would get you. And that's your basic.
Julie Morgan:
We've got to touch on that. You're listening to Women Winning Divorce with Heather Quick, owner and attorney of Florida Women's Law Group. We're going to take a quick break here, but when we return, we're going to talk more about parenting plans and what to include. Stay with us. Welcome back to Women Winning Divorce with Heather Quick, owner and attorney of Florida Women's Law Group. Heather, what are we going to include in this 20 page document? I mean 20 pages, that's a lot.
Heather Quick:
Oh, it is a lot. Okay, so there is a lot of standard stuff. It is boiler plate language, meaning it's going to be in every parenting plan, but it's important, the phrase that talks about it, it's called a shared parental responsibility. That is just a legal term to basically say you both get to make decisions. I think that is common talk that we'll hear. I've heard on movies or TV; I want sole custody. I want my child 100% of the time, doesn't get any involvement with the dad or whatever. That is a very rare instance. That's going to be instances where your spouse has serious issues, substance abuse, violence, in jail, criminal activity, just unable. So it's not something that is done typically. There have to be extreme circumstances, and when there are, that's absolutely appropriate. So, in every other case, which is going to be 80% at least, probably more, you have to share, you both get to decide where they go to school.
You both get to decide where they go to church or what religion we're going to be. You both get to decide healthcare, or you both have input, I guess that is the better word because that's when sometimes there can be difficulties. That's under this huge part. That's two or three pages under shared parental responsibility and talking about you're not going to disparage the parent in front of the other. Be nice, get along, communicate, make sure you don't just move somewhere and don't provide your address and phone number. A lot of that is under the shared parental responsibility.
Julie Morgan:
Okay. Yeah, you just included so many things that I did not think would even be included because I'm thinking, why would you move somewhere and not share your address and phone number?
Heather Quick:
Just to get to the other person sometimes. Sometimes things happen, and obviously there could be reasons if there is violence, but then that would be addressed in other cases. But yeah, things happen, and I really can tell you, whether it's true or not, maybe somebody will say, they're stalking me, or they don't like my new girlfriend, wife, whatever so we don't want her to know where we live. Well, you can't do that because you have to know where your children are. You have a right to know where your children are. So if you have the children, you need to provide information. Say somebody moves into a gated community then they can really limit and make it more difficult for you when you have to pick up your kids and things like that. So there's a lot of little things that are just, if you look at it like a little knife and you're turning it and like, "Here you go, here you go."
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that feel that way even after the divorce and they just use things to try to just get back. It's not a healthy way to live.
Julie Morgan:
Okay, especially with the gated community thing. You can really slow them down if you have a guard at the gate and you tell the guard, don't let this person in with this license plate or what have you, can really slow them down.
Heather Quick:
Yeah, and those again can be extreme or just make them call every time and not on the list. This is a lot of little things you can just really do that are where a lot of this stuff comes from. Even childcare and who's going to watch the kids after and how will that be handled? That's in the parenting plan. And access, telephone access. I have had cases in the past where the ex-husband's like, you can't call me on the phone. The judges get pretty mad about that. They're like, you have to be able to communicate. And if you're not willing to speak on the telephone to your ex, that's a problem. But that happens a lot. Happens a lot unfortunately. It's just, they have to communicate via text or a program we're going to talk about later different kind of apps and the way technology can help folks with a lot of this stuff.
Julie Morgan:
Yeah so be sure to listen in for segment three, we're going to talk about apps for co-parenting. So let's talk about some of the other things that's included in the parenting plan. I notice it says clear outline that details the time the child will spend with each parent. And it says clear outline, so not just, "Oh, you'll have them on weekends and then possibly on Wednesdays." But it is more detailed than that.
Heather Quick:
Correct. It does depend on what the schedule is. So, when children are young, the research, the experts really say, when I say young, let's say four and under maybe five, really it's frequent contact. So you want to have a lot of contact back and forth. Unfortunately, that creates a lot of exchanges sometimes with the children. But basically two days with one parent, two days with another and then a long weekend. The kids settle in, people can settle into it, but you would have almost a picture of a calendar in the parenting plan to show how that would work out. Sometimes it's every other Thursday through Monday and then it'll say, but then if it's a three-day weekend, then it goes to the next day. You want it to address spring break. Now, I will say all the Christian holidays, but that is in the standard guidelines.
That's important to know that. It also is because if we look at our general primary schools, they do follow that. Everybody has a winter break. Does that encompass the Jewish holidays? No. So you're going to have to address that if that is what's going on in your case, because it's only really addressing the Christian holidays from the first part of the school getting off to the second half. Those are reasons that you really to pay attention to it and understand that there's guidelines, but they are really based on our kids' school calendars. They have holidays, three-day weekends that are either a planning day or national holidays, or they tend to be around the Christian holidays. It's important to know that you really do want to read that and know what you want, what you're expecting, and how do we need to personalize this for your family? It does talk about extracurricular activities, finances, transportation, and things like that. Those do relate to child support but that is going to be in the parenting plan.
Julie Morgan:
Okay. And another big one that I noticed is healthcare and medical decisions. Does this topic seem to be, I don't want to say controversial, but this is an important topic that both parents look at really closely. Am I right?
Heather Quick:
Yeah. When that is a disagreement, it tends to be philosophically. People have, as you can imagine, they have clear beliefs and ideas as it relates to their children on areas of healthcare, education, and religion. Now of course, I'm not even going to touch religion because the separation of church and state can become quite an issue in these cases. But the healthcare and medical, it's really some of the saddest stuff I've ever seen when one parent has taken the child and they have diagnoses and the doctor has prescribed medicine and the other parent disagrees and doesn't believe it exists and doesn't provide them with their medication when they're with that person. Those are really sad things. It's difficult because the child's clearly suffering. Whether you agree or disagree with either side, you end up going back to court and the courts are going to definitely rely on experts that are going to testify as far as what's in the child's best interest.
But those things can become extremely heated. You just look and see what in general people take a stance on, that happens in the marriages too. They disagree on healthcare, medical decisions, education. And that that's tough and you can't get to an agreement, you have to go to the judge. I have done that and our team has done that on multiple occasions
Julie Morgan:
And I know with the parenting plan in regards to that, you try to come up or you try to deal with every possible issue. But that is not an issue that can easily be thought of.
Heather Quick:
Many times it's not because it hasn't even come up and so then you have to deal with it. It's tough, Julie. It's hard for people. When they have real disagreements and you want to believe it's coming from the right place and they really only want the best for their children, but when they disagree and how to handle it or in education too, it can be difficult. You've got to talk to a lawyer and figure out how much of a chance do you have in prevailing in this?"
Julie Morgan:
Wow. So like we just said, you try to address all possible issues. You mentioned extracurricular activities, but this is something that depending on the timeframe of the divorce as far as how old the child is, buying a car for the child and car insurance, I didn't think of that.
Heather Quick:
Again, the judge is not going to necessarily order that so that would be something you'd want to agree on because the car insurance has to be linked to the person with whom they're designated at insuring. That's a huge cost. It's not part of child support, it's just a lot of things. Of course, when your kids are nine and 10, you're not even really thinking that far ahead.
Julie Morgan:
But as their attorney, as their lawyer, do you help them get to that point even though it's seven, eight years away?
Heather Quick:
We try to. A lot of this stuff though, you don't want to complicate it, so it does depend on their particular circumstances and how agreeable they are. People who are really in relative agreement, they're going to say we'll figure it out. We'll be able to work together. But many times, it's an issue we want to discuss because they've got five kids, the first three all got cars and now the mom's like, well is he going to get them a car because he's always bought them a new car or given them a car? How are we going to address that? That's really valid because they have a pattern of what they've done in the past and so then it makes a lot more sense. If they've never done it and they don't know how they want to approach it might be harder to come to an agreement.
Julie Morgan:
So let's use that example. So let's say that has been the pattern in the past with the prior three children, I agree to it for the other two because we are in the midst of this divorce and then I lose my job, I lose a lot, I just don't have it. What happens?
Heather Quick:
It is what it is. It's just like if you agree to pay for private school and then you don't have the ability, the judge is not going to make you do that. But it doesn't mean it's not worthwhile to agree to these things and try to discuss these things when you're in mediation and going through those issues. But it's worthwhile. If you're going to agree to pay college, that's great. Is it going to enforceable? To some extent, but again, if you can't pay and it's not something that legally you have an obligation to do, yes, you're under contract, but it can just get sticky. What will you really get in court? You'll get a paper that says, he should do this when he is able.
That happens in some cases, not always, and it's difficult. But if people are agreeing and coming to an agreement in good faith, I would say, if you guys are trying to do this in good faith, do it because then maybe you're not going to have that issue and at least you've agreed. You've said this is what we agreed to and you just need to understand this may or may not be enforceable. What are you compromising to get him to say he's going to continue to pay this? Is that going to be worth it? If that makes sense?
Julie Morgan:
Yeah, it totally makes sense. Totally makes sense. And I have so many more questions. You're listening to Women Winning Divorce with Heather Quick, owner and attorney of Florida Women's Law Group. We're going to take a quick break here and when we return we're going to talk more about what to include in a parenting plan because I have more questions. We're also going to talk about apps for co-parenting. Stay with us. Welcome back to Women Winning Divorce with Heather Quick, owner and attorney of Florida Women's Law Group. Heather, something I wanted to ask you in our second segment but we ran out of time, and I feel like you mentioned this briefly, but I really want to touch on this so people understand how important this is. Is it easy to go back to court and get this plan modified, the parenting plan?
Heather Quick:
No. That is a big no. For anybody who is going through this, and if you are ever told you can go back and change it, that is horrible advice, and you really need to get a second opinion because it's very difficult. Do not ever enter into one of these things thinking I'll come back and change it as if that's some easy thing to do. You have to prove a change in circumstances and now that this is in their best interest, and in many cases that is even more lengthy and costly than your original divorce.
Julie Morgan:
Oh, talk about money. I wasn't expecting that.
Heather Quick:
It really is. Some things are unavoidable, and you can't do anything about it. I have had clients tell me, that their attorney told them I can just go back and change it. That's why I'm so emphatic because just to just go back to court, who wants to go back to court? You have to for certain things for sure, but it's costly, time consuming, and it's not something you should look at as lightly changing. It's going to be very difficult.
Julie Morgan:
Okay. So don't look at that as an option, try to get it right the first time as much as you can.
Heather Quick:
Things are going to happen. You can't write every single thing down. People change, their circumstances change, but in general to be like, I'm going to agree to 50/50 because he's giving me such a hard time and I'll go back and change it. That is not true. That is not a good premise with which to agree to things. But sometimes people do because they just are like, I know what I am giving or gaining in an effort to agree to this. If you understand it's not going to necessarily be easy to go back and change it, then at least you're doing that knowingly, intelligently.
Julie Morgan:
And you make that clear to your clients?
Heather Quick:
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
Julie Morgan:
Yeah, that's good. Now let's talk about these apps for co-parenting. There is an app for everything. I had no idea this even existed. Maybe I should just go in the app store and check things out because I didn't know this was something. This is a thing.
Heather Quick:
Oh, this is big business and helpful certainly for some. There's as we know, an app for everything, even things that I don't even know exist. But it can help in communication, and it can help keep documents organized as well because within the parenting plan, this is a standard example, any out-of-pocket medical expenses will be split at a percentage. That means though, if you go and pay for your copay at the doctor, which 30, $60, you need to then send them that. Well, that used to be a total pain in the neck because before all these apps and iPhones, you'd have to make a copy of this and send it to them. Now you can just take a picture, put it on the app, and yes, it takes effort in organization, but all that money adds up. It's really important that you are making sure if they're supposed to pay all this out of pocket, you want to keep track of it.
Julie Morgan:
All righty, so let's talk about these apps. I'm sitting here in front of my computer as we speak and I looked up one of the apps. Tell me about some of these apps.
Heather Quick:
Okay so one that's very helpful is scheduling. There are some that are just a family calendar. That can be extremely helpful in documenting who's going to have them, especially if maybe you do have to make a change in the schedule, but even if not. As the kids get older then they know, this week I've got this." There are a lot of family calendars, some people can just even use the Google Calendar, but there's a lot of apps that help with that. Some that are very specific for divorced parents are, there's one called the Family Wizard. Family Wizard's really good, very popular in this jurisdiction because it's a full record of communication that in theory, and because really, it's an app, you don't have control over it like your email, you can't doctor it up. So there is a level of authenticity to it. Also one called Parent Ship and one called We Parent. They charge, they're not free, but in high conflict situations it's worth it, sometimes ordered by the court.
Julie Morgan:
Okay, so I didn't realize that. So they can tell you, they can say, "Okay, this is the way you're going to do this and you will pay the fee"?
Heather Quick:
Yes. Sometimes one or the other of the parties, we've had motions where we've asked for it because if it's just a lot of verbal communication and there's a record, that can be a problem. So, you're like, we need to have clear communication. When you say you're picking them up, I need to know you're picking them up and there's a record of that if don't. Or if I've told you X, Y, Z on their schedule on whatever they have with their sports, there's a really solid record. That can be very helpful.
Julie Morgan:
I look at these, I'm looking at the websites for a couple of the apps that are here and it seems like this could also help you just maintain a respectful relationship. I may not even have to talk to you, but everything is right there in the app so we can keep track of everything for the sake of our child.
Heather Quick:
That's the reason that they do it. They just aren't able to have conversations. And that's just the way that is sometimes. There's just so much anger, animosity, so much has happened, they're not able. So there's the app for that. Then you can communicate in writing. There's also a lot of downsides to that. After a while sometimes you're like, I think we need to talk because things can get a lot more heated without things being in perspective or the tone of voice or whatever. But sometimes it's really helpful. There are a lot of people that really need that and it makes their lives easier and better for their kids.
Julie Morgan:
Yeah, I can imagine. And you think about the schedules that your children may have, one is in soccer, one is in ballet, another is in softball or what have you, that's a lot to keep up with and to have to share with someone else so they know as well.
Heather Quick:
So much so. I feel like there's so much good that can come out of that and if both people embrace it and use it for what it's intended, which is to improve communication and keep things a little bit more fluid and civil, it's great. If you're using it just to do gotchas and trying to set the other person up, which does happen, it may not work as well. But for the majority of people, I think it works great.
Julie Morgan:
Yeah, it does seem like it could help. And also, I'm looking and it helps with medical forms and insurance information, being able to keep all of these things in one place, that can just help with your own sanity as well.
Heather Quick:
Yeah, there's just a lot. There's enough in a family that is together. So just think when you're not, it just can really help. It's not a bad thing.
Julie Morgan:
I was thinking the exact same thing. And also keeping track of expenses, it helps with that as well.
Heather Quick:
It does and it's one place where everything can be together, and that's important.
Julie Morgan:
And just in case, let's say you have to go back to court, this will be your proof or it may also be to your detriment, it just depends on what side you're on.
Heather Quick:
Well, it's true because we talked about contempt and enforcement in a prior show, and this would be one of the things, they haven't reimbursed you. Look at that great record, you just took a photo each time, added it to it, added it to it, and they don't ever pay. There it was, easily communicated through the app. So it definitely can be to your advantage.
Julie Morgan:
Yes. And if you want to listen to the show that Heather just mentioned, you can go to our website, womenwinningdivorce.com and download, listen, and also set up an alert so you can know every time the podcast is posted. Heather, anything else you want to add on this topic?
Heather Quick:
Well, I just want to say, as I usually do, is that these things can be difficult. We went into this high level view and I know I talked a lot and then you didn't even really get to follow up on all the questions that I know you had. So I really just encourage any woman who is in this process or thinking about a divorce and maybe feels overwhelmed, just to reach out to us and let us help you at Florida Women's Law Group go through this because we do it all the time and that's why I can so easily talk about it and all the many issues. But when you have never done this, it can seem overwhelming.
Julie Morgan:
You know what, Heather, I'm so glad you said that. Look at that. We work so well together. There is something I wanted to ask you about and it's something, let's say you touched on it just a little bit, but I know that this is something that happens in families. What if one of the parents, they have an addiction or a questionable lifestyle? How does that work with the parenting plan?
Heather Quick:
And that may be where there are issues that require supervision during visits, no overnights. In many cases there are another app for alcohol detection like Breathalyzer. So yes, there would be very specific things in the parenting plan based upon that in supervision.
Julie Morgan:
Okay. So what if, let's say that parent that had these issues and they worked through them, would that be a way to go back to court and get the parenting plan changed? If they've worked through those issues and they've proven themselves, would that be a good reason to go back to court?
Heather Quick:
Yes, absolutely. Typically, there's going to be some guidelines on that within the parenting plan maybe, but maybe not. They're like, you go back when you've done whatever we require of you or you've done all this supervision, gotten yourself in a better state. Absolutely. That is a substantial change in circumstances that warrants returning to court.
Julie Morgan:
And it also sounds like that would be a good reason because as we've discussed on this show before, the child needs each parent.
Heather Quick:
Yes, and needs each parent when they are in a healthy, productive state. When they are, then yes, the court is going to do that.
Julie Morgan:
Okay. Alrighty. Now I think that's it. That's it, Heather.
Heather Quick:
Well, good. I know that so many people will have these kinds of questions, Julie, so I thank you for asking me that and following up with it.
Julie Morgan:
Yeah, it's just something that so many families deal with and it affects everyone no matter how much money you make, no matter how you look, it affects us all.
Heather Quick:
That is the truth. It does. So thank you for adding that. And for anyone I know going through this and questions, please reach out.
Julie Morgan:
Heather, it's always a pleasure.
Heather Quick:
My pleasure indeed. Thank you so much, Julie.
Julie Morgan:
We'll see you next time.
Heather Quick:
Yes, ma'am.
Julie Morgan:
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