As the holiday season approaches, many parents and families may be wondering how parenting time will be affected by the holiday season. You may have an order issued by the court which states how holidays are to be divided. However, in many cases, Courts may adopt the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines to determine holiday parenting time. In order to help establish an equal and balanced schedule, Indiana has outlined special guidance for holiday parenting time.
Outlined within the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines, the holiday parenting time schedule will take precedence over regularly scheduled and extended parenting time. If a parent misses a weekend of their regular parenting time due to the weekend falling on the other parent’s holiday, the weekend is lost. If a parent has their child for two consecutive weekends due to a holiday, that parent will also have the third consecutive weekend. The rationale behind this is that the missed weekends due to holidays will balance out for each parent as the holiday parenting time schedule alternates.
If a child is at least three years old but is not enrolled in a child-care program or educational facility, the district school calendar in which the child primarily resides will be the method of determining holiday parenting time. If both parents are sharing equal parenting time, the school district calendar in which the parent who is in charge of paying the controlled expenses will take control in determining holiday parenting time. If a child is at least three years old is enrolled in a child-care or educational facility, the school district calendar in which the child is enrolled in will determine the holiday parenting time.
For Thanksgiving, the noncustodial parent will exercise Thanksgiving parenting time in even numbered years and the custodial parent will exercise Thanksgiving parenting time in odd numbered years. Thanksgiving parenting time is from 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday until 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Christmas Break begins on the last day of school before break begins, at 6:00 p.m., and ends the last day before school restarts at the end of break at 6:00 p.m. Each parent is entitled to one-half of Christmas Break. In even numbered years, the custodial parent gets the first half of the Christmas Break, and the noncustodial parent gets the second half of the Christmas Break. In odd numbered years, the noncustodial parent gets the first half of the Christmas Break, and the custodial parent gets the second half of the Christmas Break. In any year that Christmas Day does not fall during a parent’s one-half of Christmas Break, that parent gets the child on Christmas Day from noon to 9:00 p.m. New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day do not count as separate holidays under the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines.
If you or someone you know have questions regarding holiday parenting time or need assistance in obtaining holiday parenting time, consulting with a family law attorney regarding your options can be helpful. The experienced Indianapolis family law attorneys at Banks & Brower, LLC can help with your parenting time needs. Give us a call at (317)-526-4630 to help you navigate your case.