With the holiday season upon us, a very common question that arises is how parenting time is allocated during the holidays for parents who have gone through a divorce or have a divorce pending, or for unmarried parents who have a pending case for the allocation of parental rights or who already have an order from a juvenile court.
Unless the parties reach an agreement customizing their holiday parenting time, the court will usually order the parents to divide parenting time for the holidays pursuant to the court’s “standard order of parenting time.” A “standard order of parenting time” is a schedule created by the court that equally divides all of the major holidays. Typically, a parent will have parenting time for one-day holidays pursuant to a “standard order of parenting time” on an alternating yearly basis. For example, in odd-numbered years, Parent 1 will have parenting time for Memorial Day from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. and on even-numbered years, Parent 2 will have parenting time for Memorial Day from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m.
Longer holidays, like Winter break, are usually equally divided pursuant to a “standard order of parenting time.” For example, on odd-numbered years, Parent 1 will have parenting time pursuant to a “standard order of parenting time” from 9 a.m. the day after school recesses until 9 p.m. on December 24th and Parent 2 will have parenting time from 9 p.m. on December 24th until 6 p.m. on January 1st. On even-numbered years, the reverse would apply.
For week long holidays, like Spring Break, a “standard order of parenting time” may allocate parenting time to one parent for the entire week on an alternating yearly basis.
What if the child(ren) is not of school age? The same rules would apply, however, the parents would determine the holidays based on the calendar of the school district in which the child(ren) primarily resides.
Each county will have differences in their “standard order of parenting time.” For example, some courts only have one. Others have different schedules to choose from that may be dependent on the child(ren)’s age. Here are examples from several courts in our area:
Montgomery County Domestic Relations Court: https://drcourt.mcohio.org/documents%20and%20forms/Legal%20Separation-Divorce/STANDARD%20ORDER%20OF%20PARENTING%20TIME.pdf
Montgomery County Juvenile Court:https://www.mcjcohio.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/MCJC-LOCAL-RULES-OF-PRACTICE-AND-PROCEDURE-01-12-23.pdf
Green County Domestic Relations Court:https://www.greenecountyohio.gov/DocumentCenter/View/28623/Parenting-Time-Schedules---Regular-Parenting-Time-PDF
https://www.greenecountyohio.gov/DocumentCenter/View/28633/Parenting-Time-Schedule---Holiday-
https://www.greenecountyohio.gov/DocumentCenter/View/26101/Parenting-Time-Procedures-PDF-
Green County Juvenile Court: https://www.greenecountyohio.gov/DocumentCenter/View/24898/Parenting-Time-Standard-Order-PDF---Effective-July-1-2020
Warren County Domestic Relations Court: https://www.co.warren.oh.us/domestic_relations_court/Forms/BasicParentingSchedule.pdf
Warren County Juvenile Court: https://www.co.warren.oh.us/probate_juvenile/Juvenile/Rules.pdf
Ohio courts utilize these schedules to make the division of holiday parenting time as fair as possible and in a manner that minimizes conflict in divorce, dissolution, or child custody or parenting time cases.
If you have any questions about parenting time during the holidays or about any other Ohio family law, divorce, dissolution, custody, parenting time, or post-decree matter, do not hesitate to contact The Miller Firm at (937) 259-8031 for a consultation.