Nesting, which means keeping your family home for the children while you and the other parent take turns living there, is an option after divorce in Texas. You could use it as a temporary situation until you’re able to sell the home. Typically, parents rent an apartment together that they take turns living in to save money, but you could each have your own apartment if that’s within your budget. Weigh the pros and cons of nesting before including it in your parenting plan.
Ease the stress on your child
Even if you’re going through a peaceful divorce with your spouse, it’s not easy on the children. Some kids will feel like it’s their fault even when their parents reassure them that it’s not.
Teenagers usually find it more difficult to move out of the family home than younger children because they have had time to become attached and build friendships in the neighborhood. Because teenagers often have a lot of activities, it’s stressful for them to move back and forth between houses.
Reduced privacy
A potential downside of nesting is that you and your spouse may have less privacy if you choose to rent an apartment or house together. You might not feel comfortable leaving your stuff there while you’re living at the family home with your child. A solution to this would be to lock away anything you wouldn’t want your spouse going through or using while you’re not there.
Dating
Your spouse might start dating someone sooner than expected. Take this possibility into consideration and negotiate an agreement on how you will handle the situation when one of you begins dating and wants to leave the shared apartment. Perhaps, allow the other spouse a certain amount of time to prepare for another arrangement before they move out. You may want to agree to sell the house first as well.
Conflict without a thorough agreement
You should lay out the ground rules before following through with a nesting plan to help prevent conflict. Get your agreements down in a written and sign the contract as well. Without negotiating the rules before nesting, you’re probably going to have a conflict at some point. Child custody is another issue that you still need to discuss when you use nesting.
Nesting could help you and your former spouse saves money after the divorce. It could also give both of you extra time to prepare yourselves for living alone while reducing the stress on your children, so it may be worth considering.