Should parents share a home after a divorce?

Any time a couple with children divorces, there is an unavoidable amount of strain to the parent-child relationships, as well as many opportunities for children to suffer great emotional harm throughout the process.

The potential for this harm extends well beyond the actual divorce, as you and your former spouse work out the details of staying involved in your children’s lives while no longer married to each other.

For many divorced parents, it is not easy to know how to approach raising children in a way that keeps the foundations most steady for children during and after a divorce. One solution that some parents are trying recently is keeping the children in a single home and having parents trade off time there, rather than having kids shuffle between two living situations.

For parents that can afford this arrangement, it does provide some interesting options, such as keeping the children’s community more constant and their living situation stable. It also simplifies things like schooling and extracurricular activities that could be difficult for children who shuffle between homes, depending on how far apart the parents live.

However, there are some additional factors to consider. While this arrangement may produce good results in children (although the degree to which it is helpful is not well defined), it presents more opportunities for conflict between parents. If two parents constantly move in and out of a space, there is plenty of opportunity for shared space conflicts, and once one or both parents pursue relationships with the people, the other partners may find it difficult to understand.

As a parent facing a divorce, you have a lot of difficult decisions ahead of you. Be sure to get experienced guidance from an attorney with years of family law practice to help you understand all your options and choose the path forward that best suits the needs and resources of your family.

Source: The Washington Post, “Letting the kids stay in the home while the divorcing parents move in and out. Is it realistic?,” Fiona Tapp, July 27, 2017