How to Handle Thanksgiving While Going Through a Complex Divorce

Thanksgiving can be a wonderful time full of sumptuous repasts, home cooking, and warm reunions. However, as our experienced Fairfax divorce lawyers can tell you, it can also be an emotionally and logistically challenging time, if you’re going through the early stages of a divorce or separation, especially if you’re embroiled in touchy negotiations over child custody. Here are some common challenges:

1. Figuring out where the kids will have Thanksgiving.

Should the children spend the holiday with your extended family or your spouse’s extended family? Can you somehow arrange the logistics so that they can attend both holiday celebrations? Or should you split things up, so that one family gets the children for Thanksgiving and the other family gets the children for the Christmas holidays? Debates over timesharing during holidays can be extremely difficult because they not only involve the desires and opinions of parents and children but also of extended family members.

2. Thanksgiving can poignantly highlight the fact that your family is no longer intact.

Thanksgiving is a time for coming together as a family and putting differences aside. The origins of the holiday trace back to the earliest days of European settlements in the United States, when Native Americans and Europeans broke bread together and worked in tandem to achieve harvest goals. If you have to celebrate without your spouse, you might feel lonely and vulnerable.

3. Other people might ask intrusive (and potentially devastating) questions about your relationship.

For instance, a cousin or uncle might say something insensitive about the divorce, or your mother or sister may corner you to have a “tough” conversation about the child care situation or offer an opinion about what you should do about such-and-such a point regarding the divorce.

So how can you prepare effectively to meet these challenges and hopefully make the holiday fun and warm and festive? The Fairfax Virginia divorce lawyers at DiPietro Family Law Group, PLLC, would be happy to talk with you about your case and offer the insights you need to handle on your case and de-stress, so that you can truly relax and enjoy the holiday during this difficult time.

Call us at (888) 530-4374 to schedule your consultation with us.

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