Is there a standard schedule for holiday visitation in Michigan?

The Friend of the Court generally uses a standard holiday plan which can change but is likely to look like this:

MOTHER’S HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

 In even numbered years, the mother will have the following holidays:

  1. Easter
  2. Fourth of July
  3. Thanksgiving
  4. Christmas Day noon until noon the next day
  5. Children’s Birthdays

In odd numbered years, the mother will have the following holidays:

  1. Memorial Day
  2. Labor Day
  3. Christmas Eve/Christmas noon Christmas Eve until noon Christmas day
  4. New Year’s Day

FATHER’S HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

In even numbered years, the father will have the following days:

  1. Memorial Day
  2. Labor Day
  3. Christmas Eve/Christmas noon Christmas Eve until noon Christmas day
  4. New Year’s Day

In odd numbered years, the father will have the following holidays:

  1. Easter
  2. Fourth of July
  3. Thanksgiving
  4. Christmas Day noon until the next day
  5. Children’s Birthdays

Holiday Hours

Easter 9:00 am until 7:00 pm
Memorial Day 9:00 am until 7:00 pm
Fourth of July 9:00 am until 7:00 pm
Labor Day  9:00 am until 7:00 pm
Thanksgiving 9:00 am until 7:00 pm
Christmas Eve December 24 from noon until Christmas day noon
Christmas Day   December 25 from noon until noon the next day
New Year’s Day    9:00 am until 7:00 pm
Child’s birthday For a minimum of three hours
Mother’s Day Each year the mother will have Mother’s Day
from 9:00 am until 7:00 pm
Father’s Day  Each year the father will have Father’s Day
from 9:00 am until 7:00 pm

 

The FOC schedule often considers holidays to be “one day” holidays.    Another approach is to have Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day be three day weekends which would then alternate.  Mother’s Day and Father’s Day could be whole weekends. --  Religious holidays can be added to the schedule if they are important to a family.

Long breaks can be alternated as a whole (so that one of the parents could take the children to Florida, for example) or they can be split.  There is much flexibility with regard to holiday parenting time.

Vacations are a separate subject.  When children are young, two week vacations are normally “non-consecutive.”  As children get older, they can tolerate being away from one of the parents for two weeks at a time.  Usually, parents will be expected to exchange proposed vacation schedules by April or May.  If those schedules conflict, a judgment can provide that one parent gets his/her wish in even-numbered years, and the other parent gets his/her wish in odd-numbered years.

Holiday and vacation time generally trumps and supersedes “regular parenting time.”