If you and your spouse had decided to divorce, and you were asked to pick a few select dates and events that you wanted to spend with your children, what would you choose? Religious or secular holidays, or perhaps your birthday? What about an annual family reunion or some other special event?
Recently, one father was asked to make that decision, and he ultimately came up with a pretty remarkable request. Not being very religious, he decided to request that his children be with him in the event that the Syracuse men’s basketball team, of which he has been a lifelong fan, makes it to the national championship game.
Certainly, the father’s request is an unusual one, but after you hear him explain his reasoning, it may no longer seem that strange. He grew up in a household of Syracuse fans, with his father instilling love of the school and its teams in him at a very early age. Many of his best memories revolve around his father and Syracuse, he says, and he wants the chance to share those experiences and make those memories with his own children.
The father acknowledges that his request, which was memorialized in his parenting time agreement as “NCAA Men’s BBall final until end of game if Syracuse is in,” is a bit out of the ordinary, but he says that he is glad to have that guaranteed time with his children in the event that Syracuse makes it to the finals.
“It was definitely something that was highly unusual to a divorce proceeding,” he said, “but to me, sports is about celebrating with friends and family. That’s why it was important to me.”
Source: Yahoo Sports, “Syracuse fan makes unusual custody request in divorce settlement,” Jeff Eisenberg, July 27, 2012
At our Atlanta family law firm, we help clients make decisions such as that discussed above. For more information, please see our child custody page.