How to Make a Child Custody Schedule

A good custody schedule is vital for your custody situation

Your custody schedule dictates how much time each parent will have with the children. It's important to set up the best possible schedule for your children.

Things You'll Need

• Calendar
• List of holidays and school holidays (if applicable)

Instructions

1. To start your custody schedule, you need to have the type of custody worked out. You can have joint custody where you split the custody time equally, or you can have a custodial parent (who the child lives with) and visits to a non-custodial parent.

2. From the custody arrangement, you can choose a basic, repeating cycle of custody. Some examples for joint custody include alternating weeks, a 2/2/5/5 schedule, or a 3/3/4/4 schedule. If you have a custodial parent, some examples of schedules include alternating weekends with an overnight visit during the week, every weekend, multiple visits in the week.

3. 

   Once you pick your repeating cycle, apply it to the entire calendar. You can choose how you want to mark the time--you can just write it in pen, or you can mark each parent's time with different colors.

4. Now you need to make a holiday schedule. Go through your list of holidays and divide them between the parents. You should make a list of the holidays with the parent who has custody that year. You can also add in school holidays if you want. Then you need to decide when the holiday starts and ends (or you can decide to share some holidays). Write all of this in a list. Then go through and mark them in the calendar.

5. Think about any special events or situations where the custody schedule will change. Perhaps there is a sporting event your child participates in--if you know when the games are and if it changes the custody arrangement, mark them in the calendar. Mark in any special events you know about.

6. Make as many copies of the calendar as you want. Keep the list of holidays and other events in a folder so you have easy access to them. Now you have a complete child custody schedule.

Tips & Warnings

• You can work with the other parent to make your schedule, or you can make a few different schedules to show the other parent until you find one you agree on.

• It may be helpful to use custody software to help you create your child custody calendar.

• Your custody schedule should be personalized for your situation. Think of any arrangements that will work for you and make it part of your schedule.

Resources

• Discover how to easily make the best child custody schedule with Custody X Change.