December is a holy time of the year, encompassing the celebration of many religious holidays and spiritually significant days. December may also, unfortunately, be the time of year that religious differences arise between ex-spouses, which may not have been present during marriage. When parents have divergent religious beliefs, it may be difficult to come to a visitation agreement during the holidays.

The general rule is that the custodial parent has the authority to make decisions relating to their child’s religious upbringing. For example, a Jewish father who is the custodial parent has the right to raise his child as Jewish and to celebrate any related religious holidays, such as Chanukah, with the child. At divorce, this may raise some concerns if the parents do not agree on what religion to raise their child. Courts will not prohibit the noncustodial parent from discussing religion with the child or from involving the child in his or her religious activities, in the absence of a showing that the child will be harmed.

Further, courts are unwilling to get involved in religious disputes between parents because of the potential for interference with the First Amendment’s guarantee that the government shall not prohibit the free exercise of religion. Thus, courts will never make any ruling based solely on religion. Courts will, however, uphold child custody visitation agreements between the parents that concern religious issues.

If religious differences may become an issue during or after divorce, it is important that you and your ex-spouse discuss the importance of all religious holidays and how they will be incorporated into your visitation schedule. Parents will usually alternate custody between holidays each year, but this is not always the case if one parent values certain holidays more than others, or if parents of different faiths want to celebrate holidays that fall on the same day. Whatever you and your spouse agree on with regards to the custody schedule, it should be determined well in advance and with the child’s best interests in mind. Additionally, any custody agreement should detail exactly what will happen in these situations.

The Certified Family Law Specialists at Lonich Patton Erlich Policastri have decades of experience handling complex family law matters.  If you have any questions about your child custody visitation schedule, please contact the Certified Family Law Specialists at Lonich Patton Erlich Policastri for further information.  Please remember that each individual situation is unique and results discussed in this post are not a guarantee of future results.  While this post may include legal issues, it is not legal advice.  Use of this site does not create an attorney-client relationship.