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Hi everyone, I’m Dr. Michael Mantell with another Family Law Matters and I’m always privileged to be joining Bonnie Rabinovitch-Mantel who is the owner and the managing partner of the highly esteemed Primus Family Law Group. Hi Bonnie. Hi Michael, how are you doing today? I am doing well.

We are in San Diego where it is very hot, not as hot as it might be in some homes in terms of their difficulties that they’re facing, particularly in the coming weeks as we all head back to school. I guess I could ask you to share a couple of the key issues that parents have as they face back to school, but one of them that I’m particularly familiar with is I want them to go to this school. No, I want them to go to that school.

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It’s a little late for that, isn’t it? Yeah, in most cases by now people should have enrolled their children in school. And who’s going to pick them up and they want to go to your house, I don’t have time to. My goodness, my goodness, we’re talking about children.

Bonnie, help. Well, you know, Michael, it usually depends on how well the parents can get along. I mean, it really does end there.

And it’s understandable that when people are either divorced or getting divorced that they don’t get along. That’s completely understandable. Unfortunately, the kids are caught in the middle.

So if you already have orders for what regular ongoing visitation is supposed to look like, and that’s kind of like what we call it for the academic year, follow the order. Unless you guys are willing to make changes and put it in writing and make those the new orders or you’re able to work together to switch things off and on, stick to the order. It’s just that simple.

If you don’t have an order yet and you need one, well, somebody needs to file a motion and we can help you with that. So here’s the thing though. Yes, there’s an order in place.

I never liked this order. I never really, I was convinced, I was twisted. My arm was twisted into agreeing to this.

So it’s easy to say, agree to the order. But the bigger issue is put your kid’s wellbeing before what you wish. Let me clarify a couple of things.

If you’re making an agreement and that becomes an order and you later say, I didn’t really want to do that. You’re, forgive me, you’re a grownup. And if you didn’t want to do it, then that is the time to pull your attorney aside and say, Hey, what are we doing? I need a moment.

Even though the deal may fall through, if that’s what you need to do, that’s what you need to do. But Michael, a lot of these cases are go to court and the judge makes the decision because the parents can’t agree. So the judge makes the decision.

That’s not, don’t follow the order. That’s what I meant. That is the order to follow unless you guys can agree to do something different.

Right. And I guess the point from an emotional perspective, as we are integrative in the work that we do, yes, it’s, you don’t like the order, but keep in mind, this is not about whether you like the order or not. These are children who are starting off a school year and the order may not satisfy you.

You may be demanding in your head to be different, but let’s try and celebrate the new year for these children, regardless of what the order is. So if people do have questions about this and they’re thinking there’s legitimacy here, how can they be in touch with you to try and do something? School is coming up very soon. Well, Michael, if they want some help, either modifying an order or making an order, they can reach us at 619-574-8000.

They will speak to our lovely team and they will get a free 30-minute phone consultation with me, the owner of the firm. They can also reach us at www.primusfamilylaw.com. There’s a form they can fill out and we will reach back out to them to set them up for that 30-minute consultation.