It is always ideal if you and your spouse can come to an agreement about child custody and parenting time matters, but if you cannot, the judge will step in and make the decisions for you. When this happens, he or she may use the state’s parenting time guidelines.
According to the State Court Administrative Office, parenting time is the time children spend with the parent with which they do not live and it replaces the outdated term parenting time. The aim of the guidelines is to ensure your children have time to form meaningful bonds and relationships with both you and their other parent.
Weekday time guidelines
The suggestion for weekdays is that the non-custodial parent should have at least one evening per week with the children. The default day is Wednesday from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Weekend time guidelines
For weekend parenting times, the suggestion is to alternate weekends with the other parent. Generally, the weekend begins at a specified time on Friday evening and goes until that same time on Sunday evening.
Holiday schedules
The default suggestion for holidays is that mothers get the children for two specified holidays in years that end with an even number. Father would then get the children in years ending with an odd number.
Then, for two other specified holidays, the mother gets the children in odd years and the father in even years. For example, the mother may have the children in even years for Thanksgiving and Fourth of July while the Father would have the children for those holidays in odd years. In odd years, the mother would get the children for Christmas Eve and Christmas, while the father would have those holidays in even years.