Our mediation clients were parents to a young child and the father had extended family in another country.

During the negotiation of the case, the parents attended mediation, and discussed parenting time (visitation) which includes special parenting time to visit with relatives and vacation time. The parents were unable to agree on special parenting time to allow the father to attend family events outside of the United States.

After time and after considering the parties past conduct which did not include frequent travel and the child's academic needs, the father was able to negotiate a new tradition to allow him the ability to travel out of the country the first full week after school started summer vacation in order to visit with family without disrupting the child's academic or extracurricular activities. This also prevented the father from loosing customary vacation time that could be used at any other time during the year provided he gave the mother notice and an itinerary per the parties parenting plan.

By keeping the case out of court, we were able to focus on a new tradition post divorce for vacations and special times rather than relying on just the past actions or customs of the family while married.