Are you having trouble coming up with an optimal child custody solution that allows you and your spouse to share parenting time? Maybe you’ve considered living in two separate houses and bringing the children back and forth, as many couples do, but the children aren’t happy with that arrangement. They’re concerned that they would have to spend too much time in the car and it wouldn’t give them the consistency and stability that they need.
An alternative may be birdnesting, where children live in the same house all the time. The parents still have a custody schedule that tells them when they are supposed to live with their children, but they trade places so that the kids don’t have to. This can create more stability, the children always get to live in a home that they’re familiar with, they have all of their toys and other belongings, and it can make them feel like things haven’t changed as much with the divorce.
Are there any drawbacks?
There certainly are some downsides for parents, however. For instance, if you and your spouse are not on good terms, it may be hard to cooperate and communicate. You still have to share a home and a life in certain ways when you use birdnesting, and some couples just don’t find that to be a reasonable solution.
There’s also the financial side. This type of arrangement may be very expensive, as parents still have to share the costs of the family home where their children live. In some cases, these additional costs may be prohibitive, even for couples who are interested in trying birdnesting.
But it does help to show why you need to consider all of your legal options as you move through a divorce. In some cases, non-traditional solutions may provide important benefits.