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Hi everyone, I’m Dr. Michael Mantell with another Family Law Matters, joining Bonnie Rabinovitch Mantel, who is the owner and managing partner of the Primus Family Law Group. Hi, Bonnie. Hi, Michael.

How are you doing today? I’m doing fine. Unfortunately, we are coming upon summer, and that means that a lot of families who are in the midst of divorce and marital separation and dealing with kids are not doing as well. We think of summer as a great time to play and have fun, and that’s what kids want to do.

They’re not in school. But fortunately, the people you deal with, the adults, are still working, and they still have to take care of business and all kinds of other things. They may have disagreements about summer camp, and the kids want to go here, and I want to go visit grandma, and I can’t, and all that stuff.

Talk about that a little bit, because I know that you’re getting calls, and you’re dealing with that right now. Inform us a little bit about some of the difficulties and some of the friction at this time of the year. It’s a really challenging time, because like you said, the kids are out of school, but usually parents have to work, and there’s not always a ready child care provider for roughly six, seven hours a day.

And so what parents are having to do is find programs. And we all know that there are these summer camps and summer programs that are out there for kids during summer break, but they all cost money. And what’s interesting about most of the orders that the court makes, there are certain mandatory things that parents have to share, like uninsured medical expenses or therapy costs, but there are certain discretionary things that parents are allowed to share if they agree, which are like extracurricular activities in summer camp.

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And some people say summer camp should fall under child care, because child care that you need for work is something that has to be split between the parties. But Michael, there’s all sorts of camps at all sorts of ranges of expenses. And so let’s say you want your kid to do horseback riding, which is extremely expensive, or gymnastics, which is extremely expensive, and the other parent wants the kid to do regular day camp, not as expensive.

What happens there? How do parents learn to share, or maybe there’s a cap on what they can afford, and the other parent, if they want to do it, they have to pay the rest. It becomes an issue for parents that don’t make the same amount of money. What about the fact that, let’s say a parent says, okay, I’ll pay for camp, because it’s so expensive, but then I want that consideration back over here, in what I owe you each month.

Is that something people work out and deal with? You are never allowed to deduct from child support, unless the other party agrees. And if you’re going to agree, I would do that in writing, so that there’s no issue later on of trying to go to court and get this money that was not paid. If you have it in writing, you’re grownups, you can do what you want to do that takes care of your children.

If you don’t have an agreement, then you have to try to go to court and say, okay, what is the court going to make us pay for these kinds of expenses? Obviously, that in itself is an expensive endeavor. The more that you can work out, or the more that you all can co-parent and be reasonable with each other, the better your kids will have it summer. Let’s remember, they’re divorcing.

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And working it out and being able to get along is not probably something you’ve done very well. Not usually. Sometimes they need some counseling to help them make these decisions in an easier way, remembering the child is right in the middle of those arrows that you’re flinging at each other.

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If people want to be in touch and get some more information from you about this, how can they reach you? Well, if they really need to go to court to settle these issues, they can reach me at 619-574-8000, or they can reach us online at www.PrimusFamilyLaw.com. And all those ways we’ll get you onto our calendar for a free 30-minute telephone or Zoom consultation. But if you think that you can do this with a little bit of counseling, Dr. Mantell, how can they reach you? Ah, well, if people want coaching for that, my phone number is 619-743-2555, and my email is drmantell, d-r-m-a-n-t-e-l-l, at me, m-e dot com. And he is truly one of the most renowned life coaches there is.

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Thank you very much, Bonnie. Bonnie, thanks for another wonderful Family Law Matters. Have a great week, Michael.

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See you next time. Thanks, dear. Bye-bye.