50/50 Parenting Time Arrangements
My SO is in the process of filing for parenting time modification for his 8 year old son. I'm not going to get into all the specifics because it's not really relevant, but his current arrangement is every-other-weekend, Father's Day, and from the evening of Dec. 23rd to the afternoon of Dec. 24th for Christmas. That's all he gets. The holidays are a big reason he's trying to change it, because the child's mom is not cooperative in any way and will not budge on the current arrangement. They have that arrangement mainly because when they split, he wasn't in the best position financially and had to live with his parents, so he took that arrangement because it's what she requested and he just thought it would be best at the time. He was under the impression that it would be reviewed again at a later date, but it never was.
He's in a much better position now and wants to have more time with his son. He wants the time split 50/50, but we're having a hard time figuring out the best arrangement to ask for. I'd like to get some input from people who have a 50/50 split to see what you did. What we've found a lot of online is a 50/50 split is generally an every-other-week kind of thing, but neither one of us thinks that would be a good living situation for the kid. I had divorced parents growing up, and I would've hated to go back and forth every other week like that, but maybe that's just me. It's also not the most ideal situation since we live about 25-30 minutes from where he goes to school, so he wouldn't be able to take the bus. We definitely could make it work if that's what it ends up being, but I'm hoping to get some input on what other possible arrangements there could be that have been successful for other people. Or if anyone has done the 50/50 with rotating weeks, how did it work out for you?