How to Create a Holiday Visitation Schedule - What Holidays to Include

The Oklahoma courts have created a standard visitation schedule that includes specific holidays. However, every family is different, and you (or a judge) can create a custom visitation schedule that includes holiday visitation that fits your needs.

If you are in a child custody case, you will have to live under a visitation schedule. That visitation schedule will likely include holidays. You may wonder: What holidays should I include?

You must first understand that there are two ways to resolve a custody case:

1) You can settle out of court, or

2) You can take the case to trial, and have a judge decide the matter.

If you settle the case to court, you can create your own visitation schedule. The judge will have to approve this visitation schedule. While a judge may theoretically refuse to approve a visitation schedule, I have never seen this happen in practice. If you take your case to trial, then the judge will order a specific visitation schedule.

In either case – whether you create your own visitation schedule, or whether the judge creates a visitation schedule for you – there is no law saying what must be in a visitation schedule. State law requires the administrative director of the Oklahoma court system to create a “standard visitation schedule.” The administrative director has created a standard visitation schedule, but this schedule is purely advisory. If you settle your case out of court and create your own visitation schedule, you don’t have to follow the state’s standard visitation schedule. If a judge decides your case and orders you to follow a visitation schedule, the judge may look to the state standard visitation schedule as guidance, but the judge doesn’t have to follow the standard visitation schedule.

The standard visitation schedule that the administrative director of the courts has created is available here. With regard to holiday visitation, this schedule advises parents and judges to consider:

1.    Ensuring that the schedule clearly states what holidays each parent has visitation;

2.    How old and mature the child(ren) are;

3.    Each parent’s work schedule, and

4.    Family traditions. (The schedule then gives an example where Father’s family always has a reunion on Labor Day weekend; in this case it might be desirable to give visitation to Father that weekend.)

The Tulsa County District Court also has a standard visitation schedule on its website. You may find this schedule here.

Often a holiday visitation schedule will state that Mother has the children every Mother’s Day, and Father has the children every Father’s Day. The guidelines also advise that parents should consider what to do if a holiday falls on a weekend. Many parents alternate visitation every other weekend, and if a visitation schedule says that a parent has visitation on a holiday that falls on a weekend, that parent could end up having the children for several weekends in a row.

Many visitation schedules provide that parents should alternate holidays. For example, a schedule might say that Mother will have the child every Easter in odd-numbered years, and Father will have the child every Easter in even-numbered years. Also visitation schedules often split the Christmas vacation. A schedule might say that Mother has the children for the first half of Christmas, and that Father has the children the other half of Christmas.

An easy way to explain how to create a holiday visitation schedule, and to show what such a visitation schedule looks like, is to show samples from the standard visitation schedules. The holiday visitation portion of the standard visitation schedule of the administrative director of the state courts looks like this:

The holiday visitation part of the standard visitation schedule of the Tulsa County District Court looks like this:

Ultimately, however, every family is different, and you will need a visitation schedule that works for your family. If you are trying your case before a judge, and there is a particular reason why having visitation on a certain holiday would be important to you, make sure that you explain the importance of the holiday to the judge.

The Persaud Law Office has drafted visitation schedules for many clients. If you would like help creating a visitation schedule, contact us today. We may be able to assist you in creating a schedule that fits your needs.

Photo courtesy of https://www.thewoodgroveoutlander.com/top-stories/2024/01/26/origins-of-holiday-traditions/. Licensed under Creative Commons 3.0.