Standard Holiday Visitation Schedule for Child Custody

You may create a holiday calendar to designate where your child(ren) will spend special occasions and the holidays.

The holiday schedule has precedence over the regular parenting schedule.

Here are some typical ways that parents share and divide and holiday time:

• Divide the holiday in half: You may divide the day so that your child(ren) spend some of the day with each parent. This agreement needs planning and teamwork since you don’t want your child(ren) to spending the holiday traveling all day.
• Alternate them every other year: You may appoint holidays to one parent for then even years and then change the holidays in odd years. Using this agreement, you will not miss spending a holiday with your child(ren) no more than 1 year in a row.
• Appoint fixed holidays: Each parent may celebrate the same holidays with the child(ren) every year. When parents have different holidays, they think are more important, each parent may get those holidays every year.
• Schedule the holiday twice: You may appoint a time for each parent to celebrate a holiday with your child(ren). For instance, one parent may observe Christmas with the child(ren) on Dec. 20th and the other, on the 25th.

You may use any blend of these ways to share and divide the holidays to create holiday agreement that enables your child(ren) to spend quality time with each parent and celebrate enjoy family customs.

Special Considerations Holidays

Many holidays have special considerations since each parent typically wants to spend time with their child(ren) on or close to the holiday.

Here are some ideas of how to share and divide these days:

• The birthday of your child(ren)’s: You may plan a short visit for the parent who does not have the child(ren) on the birthday, give each parents birthday time in the calendar, or the parents may alternate having the birthday.
• Three-day weekends: These holidays include Labor Day Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Columbus Day, and Memorial Day. Parents may switch the three-day weekends, divide the weekends, or hand over the Monday holiday to the one who has the weekend already.
• The parents’ birthdays: Your child(ren) may spend time with the parent that is having their birthday.
• Father’s Day and Mother’s Day: Typically, your child(ren) will spend every Father’s Day with the father and every Mother’s Day with the mother.
• The weekend of Thanksgiving: One parent may have Thanksgiving Day and the other one may take the weekend, you may give each parents time on Thanksgiving Day and on the weekend, or they may switch between having Thanksgiving and the weekend.
• The Christmas holiday season of Christmas: One parent may have Christmas Eve and the other parent may have Christmas Day, one parent may have Christmas and the other parent may have a winter break, you may make New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day into one holiday and the parents alternate having it.

Holidays to Include in Your Schedule

Common holidays to include in your holiday schedule are:

• January 1^st is New Year’s Day
• The 3^rd Monday in January is Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• The 3^rd Monday in February is George Washington’s Birthday/ Presidents’ Day
• Easter Sunday
• The 1^st Day in September is Labor Day
• November 11^th is Veterans Day
• The 2nd Monday in October is Columbus Day
• October 31^st is Halloween
• Spring Break
• The 2nd Sunday in May is Mother’s Day
• The last Monday in May is Memorial Day
• February 12^th is Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday
• The 2nd Sunday in June is Father’s Day
• July 4^th is Independence Day
• The 4^th Thursday in November Thanksgiving
• December 24^th is Christmas Eve
• December 25^th is Christmas Day
• Winter Break
• New Year’s Eve to December 31st
• The birthday of your child(ren)

You may also include:

• Religious holidays
• Days when your child(ren) are out of school
• School vacation time, such as fall break
• State holidays
• The birthday of each parent
• Other occasion types

Source:

1. “Making Your Holiday Visitation Schedule.” Making Your Holiday Visitation Schedule – Common Custody Holidays, https://www.custodyxchange.com/examples/holidays/.