What Is Birdnest Custody and Is It the Right Choice for My Texas Divorce?

 Posted on March 14, 2023 in Family Law

One of the most difficult decisions in a divorce for a couple who has children is how the parenting time of the children will be divided. Multiple studies have shown that children benefit from having both parents actively involved in their lives. This has led over the past few years to more and more family court judges leaning towards shared custody of the child instead of one parent having primary custody and the other parent having a visitation schedule.

In most shared custody cases, the child goes back and forth between each of the parent’s homes. They have two bedrooms, two sets of clothes, two sets of toys, etc. And although the child is benefitting from having both parents active in their life, it can still be difficult for the child who is always going from one house to another, with issues popping up, like forgetting their favorite stuffed animal that they sleep with at night at their other parent’s house. A fairly new type of custody may solve these types of issues, but is it workable in all cases?

Birdnesting Custody

In a birdnest custody situation, there is one “nest” and that is where the child resides 100 percent of the time. Depending on what type of property division agreement the couple worked out, the house that the child lives in is the marital home.

Instead of the child going from house to house, it is the parents who go from house to house. When it is one parent’s parenting time schedule, they go stay with the child at the home, while the other parent is at their own residence. When it is the other parent’s parenting time, they go to the “nest” and the first parent goes to their residence.

How Many Homes Do You Need?

Parents who do choose birdnest custody plans have several options as to where they will each live when they are not with the child in the nest. Some parents have such a good relationship that they actually share the expense of the non-nesting residence since neither is there at the same time. This option does cut down on expenses since they are maintaining only two homes.

In most cases, sharing an apartment or home is not an option for the parents, so they each have their own residence to go to during their non-parenting time. This means that there is a total of three homes being maintained, so this option can be somewhat costly.

Contact an Austin Divorce Lawyer for Legal Assitance

If you are going through a divorce and have children, make sure you have a dedicated Travis County complex custody attorney advocating for you to ensure your parental rights are protected, no matter what type of child custody you and your spouse choose. Call Powers Kerr & Rashidi, PLLC at 512-610-6199 to schedule a confidential consultation.

Source:

https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/birdnesting-gives-kids-one-stable-home-after-divorce-does-it-ncna935336