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What is nesting and can it offer child custody help?

by | Jun 8, 2022 | Child Custody & Support

Nesting, also known as birdnesting, is the practice of divorcing parents to keep their family home. Their children stay in the home, but the ex-spouses take turns living there as dictated by the child custody order and parenting plan. While those in a contentious divorce cannot imagine ever sharing a home again, for those amicable divorcing parents, nesting can be a great way to make the divorce easier on everyone involved.

Easier on the children

Even if the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, divorcing spouses nest for a few months, having this transition period can help lessen the phycological impacts of a divorce on the children. Rather than an immediate destruction of their lives, a short-term nest makes the process a slower transition that allows children to feel more comfortable with their new lives.

Easier transition for the divorcing parents

For some divorcing couples, there is an immediate push to move out, sell everything and then, create two, separate lives as fast as humanly possible. This can be traumatic not just for children, but also for the parents as well. Moving is not easy. Selling items and a home is not easy. And, it is all emotionally draining. However, by nesting, moving, selling, sorting and the creation of two separate lives can happen over a much longer amount of time. This can make the process much easier on the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, parents as well.

Cost savings

There are also significant amounts of cost savings associated with nesting. All of the items purchased for the child stay with the child, so neither parent needs to make any additional purchases for the child. In addition, some nesting parents share another apartment or home when they are not nesting with their children. Others simply stay with family members during their non-parenting time. This delay in paying for the full costs associated with building two fully-separate lives allows both parents to save money, which makes that transition later much easier. And, if one spouse was not working, this also allows them time to transition back into the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, workforce.

Note for everyone

The benefits of nesting are obvious, but the downsides are also obvious as well. Nesting is really only for those spouses that can put aside their disagreements and live for their children. As such, most experts agree that amicable divorcees are the only ones that should explore Winston-Salem, North Carolina, nesting as an option.