How does 60:40 work?

[Wackadoo]

STBXH and I have verbally agreed a 60:40 parenting split. Am struggling to find examples of how that would work in practice. If you have similar arrangements, how does it work? DDs are 7 and 4.

XH and I will live close by each other, and school. Looking for a plan that isn’t necessarily just weekends for him, and don’t want to do too many swaps during the week. Ideas?

www.custodyxchange.com/topics/schedules/60-40/

Loads of examples even though it is based on US school years, and isn't necessarily refelective of what UK courts recommend.

Every other weekend and one night in the week is a popular arrangements in the UK.

That’s really helpful, thank you!

I don’t know if this is 60/40 but it worked for us: Friday afternoon to Monday school drop off on alternate weekends plus Wednesdays (all pick ups and drop offs at school/nursery). I know some people prefer to have the kids back on Sunday evenings but I have found this make for a very lame Sunday as you cannot make the best of it or relax (with the kids or without) knowing you have a “deadline” in the early evening.

In terms of child maintenance calculations, make sure the split of the school holidays doesn’t make you the non resident parent.

What I would suggest us to avoid variable contact patterns for example one week the kids stay with the other parent for 4 nights in a row and the next one for 3. This is particularly unsettling for the kids and lead to a lot of conflict between the parents as with a routine changing weekly, confusions occur often and you may find yourselves fighting for things like unavailable sports kits, missed birthday parties, etc.

@GetThatHelmetOn has some really good points.

What works for us is that the DC live with me and do EOW with exH (Friday to Sunday evening) and after school on Wednesday until 7pm.

I completely get the "deadline" thing about coming back in the evening. But for my DC they need to stability of always going to school from mine.

Avoiding conflict is easier with a fixed schedule, fixed responsibility for specific clubs, each parent takes full responsibility for their own weekends (eg parties, sports matches etc).

Clear communication and setting things up far in advance also helps. As does a shared online diary like Google or iCal.

My husband had his older kids about 40% of the time - we had 50% of school holidays. During term time he had EOW Friday school pick-up to Monday school drop-off, and every Wednesday night. It worked out as 150 nights a year.