With the holiday season fast approaching, parents in Richmond will likely start making plans on how to maximize the extra time they will get to spend with their kids. Such planning can often be difficult for parents who share custody of their children with their ex-spouse. According to information shared by the U.S. Census Bureau, over 22.1 million children in the U.S. were subject to custodial agreements as recently as 2013. Those kids no doubt want to spend the holidays with both their parents, yet how is that possible?
The state has developed guidelines to be followed when establishing parenting plans between divorced parents that deal specifically with holiday custodial issues. These guidelines (as shared by the Kentucky Court of Justice) offer the following holiday custody recommendations:
- For children under 18 months: Custody will rotate between parents from year-to-year from 6:00 pm on Thursday to 6:00 pm on Friday for Thanksgiving, and non-custodial parents will have custody from 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm every Christmas Eve, and then from 10:00 am on December 26 to 6:00 pm on December 27.
- For children 18 months to three years: Custody will rotate between parents from year-to-year from 5:00 pm on Wednesday to 7:00 pm on Sunday for Thanksgiving, and non-custodial parents will have custody from 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm every Christmas Eve, and then from 10:00 am on December 26 to 6:00 pm on December 29.
- For children over the age of three: Custody will rotate between parents from year-to-year from 5:00 pm on Wednesday to 7:00 pm on Sunday for Thanksgiving, and non-custodial parents will have custody from 1:00 pm to 9:00 pm every Christmas Eve, and then from 10:00 am on December 26 to 6:00 pm on December 31.
State courts do recognize that each custodial situation is unique, and thus leave room for modifications to these guidelines when a certain case may call for it.
