In this electronic age, parents can craft an agreement allowing the parent to have meaningful communication with the child(ren) using electronic methods (i.e., Parenting 2.0!) including:
• Telephone (e.g., to the other parent’s phone or the child’s phone)
• Video-conferencing (e.g., FaceTime, Skype)
• Text messaging (e.g., WhatsApp, Viber)
• Social media (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat)
• Electronic mail (i.e., “e-mail”).
In some cases, parents might decide on a specific period of time when the other parent can call and talk to the child(ren) (e.g., from 6pm to 7pm). In most situations, this electronic communication should be for a reasonable period of time in light of the child’s age and without interruption or monitoring from the other parent.
This is an excerpt from my new book “Onward and Upward: Guide for Getting Through New York Divorce & Family Law Issues” available on Amazon, Kindle and iBooks. This is an except from the chapter I wrote with the talented Bonnie Mohr. I also wrote the Chapter on Mediation, which also discusses mediation on disputes like this. Not only am I a family law litigator, but I am also a trained mediator for divorce, child custody and visitation disputes, and commercial mediation. The book is chalk full of great advice on a myriad of family law issues ranging from prenups, child custody disputes, and divorce/annulments. The book’s special sauce is that it has over 48 authors, including many nonlawyer authors, writing on both legal and nonlegal topics. More info on the book can be found here.