Christmas Holiday parent-time in 2020

Christmas Holiday parent-time in 2020

In 2020 the custodial parent gets the first half of the Christmas school vacation, including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It lasts until 1 p.m. on the day halfway through the holiday (if there are an odd number of days) or 7 p.m. (if there are an even number of days) so long as the entire holiday period is equally divided. The noncustodial parent gets the second half of the school break.

The Christmas break tends to be a difficult holiday for parents to agree upon dates for because of the awkward way the Utah Code goes about dividing it and figuring out whether they are an even or odd-number of days in the period. It also does not help that school districts have different calendars. So it is possible you may have divorced friends who are not exchanging their children on the same date and time as you.

To provide an example of how this calendar works, let’s assume you have a school where kids get out for Christmas break on Tue, December 22, 2020 and return to school on Mon, January 4, 2020. In that case the custodial parent will get holiday time from when school ends Dec 22 through Dec 28 at 1pm. The noncustodial parent then gets Dec 28 at 1pm until the evening of Jan 3.

Or as another example, if school ends for your kids on Dec 18 and resumes Jan 4 then custodial parent gets Dec 18 through Dec 26 at 7pm and noncustodial parent gets Dec 26 at 7pm through the evening of Jan 3.

If you have one child Christmas parent-time begins the evening the child is released from school until the evening before the child returns to school. If you have multiple children on different schedules then the kids should remain together for the holiday period beginning the first evening all children’s schools are let out for the holiday and ending the evening before any child returns to school.

Different rules may apply if you live 150 miles or more apart or have children under age 5. (Under the standard out-of-state schedule the noncustodial parent gets the winter school break in even-numbered years like 2020). Also, not every order follows the standard holiday schedule and if your order contains different rules then you should follow the specific rules in your court order. (For example, some parents might agree to exchange their kids on Christmas day itself).

Are you not getting the holiday parent-time you deserve? Give the lawyers at Wiser & Wiser a call today at 855-254-2600.

For Christmas 2021, Salt Lake, Jordan, Granite, Canyons, Alpine & Davis school district students are released from school for Winter Break on the afternoon of Friday, December 17th. If the holiday ends Sunday, January 2nd at 7 p.m. (the day before school resumes) and you are following Utah code 30-3-35:

“(viii) the first portion of the Christmas school vacation as defined in Subsection 30-3-32(3)(b), including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, continuing until 1 p.m. on the day halfway through the holiday period, if there are an odd number of days for the holiday period or until 7 p.m. if there are an even number of days for the holiday period, so long as the entire holiday period is equally divided.”

By my calculations for 2021 it would be 7 p.m. on December 25th as that would make the time evenly split for the time the child is out of school. However, the code states the first portion of the Christmas school vacation shall include Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
So based on the time being equally divided and the first portion including both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, when would the parent time exchange for the second portion of the holiday occur?

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