For successful executives, professionals, and business owners, the divorce process triggers a unique and profound set of fears. Your entire career has been built on competence, strategic planning, and solving complex problems. But as you face the legal system, you're confronted with a terrifying loss of control.

When you look at a "standard" parenting plan—a generic, 50/50 schedule—it feels utterly impossible.

How can a rigid Week-On/Week-Off schedule possibly work when you have last-minute board meetings, critical client travel that can't be moved, or a business that demands your attention 24/7?

This uncertainty creates a deep internal conflict. You are paralyzed by questions:

• "Will the court punish me for my career?"

• "Will my spouse use my work schedule against me to take my kids?"

• "How can I be a great parent and continue to run my business?"

This leaves you feeling confused, uncertain, and vulnerable about your future. You're worried that a judge who doesn't understand the demands of your profession will force you into a one-size-fits-all plan that sets you up to fail—a plan that ultimately harms your children and your career.

It’s normal to feel overwhelmed by this. It's a rational fear. But you do not have to face this alone.

At Fogelman Law Firm, we have spent years guiding high-asset professionals, executives, and business owners through Ohio's divorce system. We understand that your schedule isn't a 9-to-5, and your parenting plan must reflect that reality.

We are divorce lawyers who simplify the legal process. We move beyond the standard 50/50 split to build a custom, high-functioning plan that protects your career, your financial future, and—most importantly—your relationship with your children.

A successful plan for a high-performing professional isn't about dividing time down to the minute; it's about building a stable, predictable, and realistic framework. Here is the definitive guide to crafting a plan that works for your life.

1. The Villain: The "One-Size-Fits-All" Schedule

The legal system (the "Villain" in your story) is designed to process cases quickly. This means courts often default to "standard" county schedules. These are generic, check-the-box templates that work for two parents with predictable, 9-to-5 jobs.

For you, they are a nightmare.

• The Week-On/Week-Off Schedule: This is often pushed as "equal." But what happens when a critical, non-negotiable business trip lands in the middle of your "on" week? You are forced to either fail at your job or violate the plan and risk being held in contempt of court.

• The 2-2-5-5 Schedule: This schedule (2 days with Parent A, 2 with Parent B, 5 with Parent A, 5 with Parent B) is designed for high stability. But its rigid, bi-weekly rotation is impossible to reconcile with a travel schedule that is planned quarterly.

A lawyer who doesn't understand your lifestyle will push you to accept one of these plans. This is a critical mistake. It leads to failure: constant conflict, endless "make-up time" arguments, and a chaotic, unpredictable life for your children.

Your plan must be built on the reality of your life, not a court's template.

2. Reframing "Best Interest" for a High-Performance Life

The court's "North Star" in any parenting case is the "Best Interest of the Child" standard. This is a list of factors a judge must consider, and many parents with demanding careers fear these factors will be used against them.

They worry a judge will hear "travels for work" and see an "absentee parent."

This is where a strategic guide is essential. We work to reframe this narrative. Your successful career is not a detriment to your children; it is a benefit.

Your career provides:

• Financial Stability: The ability to provide a safe home, quality health insurance, and a secure lifestyle.

• Educational Opportunities: The resources to fund private schooling, tutoring, and travel.

• A Model of Success: Demonstrating the value of hard work, discipline, and achievement.

Our job is to show the court that your involvement isn't just about quantity of time, but quality. We demonstrate that even when you travel, you are the parent who emails the teacher, schedules the medical appointments, and knows your child's friends.

A custom-built plan proves that you have a strategy to be a deeply involved parent, while managing your career.

3. The 5 Pillars of a High-Functioning Executive Plan

A generic plan fails. A custom plan succeeds. This is the plan we help you build, pillar by pillar.

Pillar 1: The "Base & Flex" Schedule (Predictability)

First, we reject the idea that "equal" means "identical." For your children, predictability is more important than a perfect 50/50 percentage.

We often design a "Base & Flex" schedule.

• The "Base" Schedule: This provides the core routine. For example, the children may reside with the other parent during the school week to ensure stability for homework and activities. This becomes the predictable "home base."

• The "Flex" Time: This is your guaranteed, high-quality time. It is written into the decree and is not "make-up time"—it is your primary parenting time.

Examples of a "Base & Flex" schedule include:

• Guaranteed Block Weekends: You have the 1st and 3rd Friday through Monday of every month. This gives you consistent, protected 3-day blocks for high-quality, planned engagement.

• The "Block Schedule": Instead of rotating days, you may have a schedule of week on, week off, which can be easier to plan around long-term business obligations.

• Prioritized Holidays & Summer: The plan may give you priority on 3-day holiday weekends (like Memorial Day or Labor Day) and an extended, 4-6 week block of time every summer.

This approach gives your children the routine they crave while giving you the protected, meaningful time you deserve.

Pillar 2: The "Virtual Parenting" Charter (Connection)

In today’s climate, parenting is not just about physical presence. For a parent who travels, technology is the lifeline that maintains the daily bond. A high-functioning plan writes these digital connections into the decree, making them non-negotiable.

This is not just a vague clause about "phone calls." It is a detailed Virtual Parenting Charter.

This charter legally guarantees:

• Scheduled, Uninterrupted Video Calls: A specific 15-minute video call (e.g., via FaceTime or Zoom) at a set time (e.g., 7:30 PM) every night you are traveling. The other parent is legally obligated to facilitate this call.

• Shared Digital Calendars: The required use of a co-parenting app (like OurFamilyWizard or AppClose) for all scheduling of activities, appointments, and travel. This eliminates conflict and creates a single source of truth.

• Unfettered Digital Access: A clause guaranteeing you direct access to all school (report cards, teacher emails) and medical (doctor's portals) information.

This charter ensures that even when you are in a different time zone, you remain an active, engaged, and legally-recognized parent. This is also a critical component of any long-distance parenting plan.

Pillar 3: Mastering the "Right of First Refusal" (Opportunity)

This is one of the most critical—and most frequently bungled—clauses in any parenting plan. It is a minefield for an executive.

A "Right of First Refusal" (ROFR) states that if one parent needs childcare (e.g., a babysitter), they must offer that time to the other parent first.

In theory, this is wonderful. It maximizes your time with your children. In practice, a poorly written ROFR can be weaponized against you.

The "Weaponized ROFR" (Failure):

Your plan has a 2-hour ROFR. You have a last-minute client dinner. You are now legally required to call your ex-spouse and ask permission. If they say "no," you must either cancel on your client or violate the court order. It becomes a tool of control.

The "Strategic ROFR" (Success):

We negotiate a ROFR that reflects your life. This may include:

• A Higher Time Threshold: The ROFR is only triggered for periods of 8 hours or more, or for any overnight care.

• A "Business Carve-Out": The ROFR is not triggered for work-related events.

• A Clear Response Window: The other parent has 60 minutes to respond "yes" or "no," after which the right is waived.

• Transportation Defined: The parent exercising the right (the one taking the extra time) is responsible for all transportation.

A strategic ROFR gives you flexibility for your career while maximizing your opportunity to be the "default" caregiver for your children.

Pillar 4: The Delegation of Authority Protocol (Support)

As a successful professional, you rely on a support team—an executive assistant, a long-term nanny, a business partner, or trusted family members. Your parenting plan must reflect this reality.

What happens if you are stuck in a meeting and the other parent is unavailable? Who has the legal authority to pick up your sick child from school?

A generic plan is silent on this, which leads to conflict. We simplify this by building in a Delegation of Authority Protocol.

This is a specific clause that gives you the right to designate a pre-approved, trusted third party (like a nanny or grandparent) to handle day-to-day transportation and care during your parenting time.

This is not "giving away your time." This is a smart, logistical solution that prevents your ex-spouse from vetoing your childcare choices and ensures your child is always supported by a familiar, trusted adult. It stops the "if you aren't the one picking them up, it's my time" argument before it ever begins.

Pillar 5: The "Executive Travel" & Make-Up Time Clause (Reality)

This is the final piece of the puzzle. How do you handle a last-minute, unavoidable work trip that conflicts with your parenting time?

A generic plan leads to a "contempt" filing. A smart plan anticipates this.

We build in a clear protocol for handling these conflicts.

1. Notice: How much notice must you provide for a work conflict? (e.g., "48 hours notice for domestic travel, 7 days for international," with exceptions for true emergencies).

2. Make-Up Time: How is that time made up? A well-drafted plan is specific. It's not a vague "parent will receive make-up time." It is: "The parent shall make up the missed time by exercising the first available 3-day holiday weekend" or "The missed time shall be added to the parent's summer block."

3. The "Bank of Days": In some cases, we can negotiate a "bank" of 10-15 "flex days" per year that a parent can use to swap their parenting time for business travel, without penalty, provided they give proper notice.

This protocol removes the "gotcha" element and turns a potential crisis into a simple, pre-planned logistical swap.

4. Connecting Your Plan to Your Financial Future

A parenting plan never exists in a vacuum. It is directly, and inextricably, linked to your financial security. Your ideal client—a business owner, executive, or professional—is deeply concerned with protecting their lifestyle and assets.

A custom-built parenting plan is also a financial protection strategy.

• Impact on Child Support: In Ohio, child support is calculated using a worksheet that factors in the number of overnights each parent has. A generic 50/50 plan may result in a support calculation that doesn't make sense. For high-income earners, the standard worksheet doesn't even apply. We build a plan that justifies a deviation from the standard support, ensuring the financial agreement is fair and reflects the actual costs.

• Travel Costs: For a long-distance plan, who pays for flights? For an executive plan, who pays for the nanny during your work travel? These expenses must be defined in the decree.

• Future Expenses: A strategic plan looks ahead. It doesn't just solve today; it solves tomorrow. We ensure the plan clearly defines who is responsible for future big-ticket items, like who pays for college, private school tuition, or a child's first car.

By integrating the parenting and financial plans, we help you avoid a major failure: negotiating the wrong support order due to a poor legal strategy.

The Stakes: Avoid Failure, Achieve Success

Getting this wrong means losing far more than just parenting time.

The Failure:

If you accept a generic plan, you are trapped. You will be stuck in a long, emotionally draining legal battle for years. You will face endless contempt motions every time your career demands your attention. You will be forced to choose between your clients and your children, feeling like you are failing at both. You risk losing hard-earned wealth in unfair support orders and constant attorney fees, and you risk your children growing up in a high-conflict environment.

The Success:

When you build a custom, high-functioning plan, you get clarity, control, and confidence. You can move forward focusing on your future, not the past. You will have a plan that works, allowing you to be both a present, engaged parent and a successful professional. You will win the settlement you deserve, securing your lifestyle and assets, and—most importantly—giving your children the gift of a stable, secure, and conflict-free future.

You will be transformed from feeling Confused to feeling Empowered.

Your Next Step is Clear

This is not just theory. This is the proven, strategic process we use to guide clients like you every single day. Divorce is overwhelming, but you do not have to face it alone.

Your plan needs to be as unique as your career.

Get the Full Strategy: Download Our Free Ebook

This guide is your playbook for the parenting schedule. To understand the complete legal and financial framework, download our free Ebook, "Focused on Their Future: A Strategic Guide to Custody and Parenting Plans." It's the blueprint you need to protect your children and your assets.

Your next step is simple. Our "Build Your Divorce Plan" takes the confusion out of the process:

1. Schedule a Confidential Consultation: A simple phone or video call to understand your unique situation.

2. Understand Your Options: We will give you a clear, honest assessment of your legal options and possible outcomes.

3. Execute Your Plan with Confidence: We will build the custom strategy you need to secure your future.

Don't let a generic plan define your future.

We simplify divorce to empower your future.