Lucas County Parenting Time Schedule: Weekly, Holidays, Summer

In Lucas County, the default parenting time schedule gives the non-residential parent alternating weekends from Friday at 7:00 p.m. to Sunday at 7:00 p.m., plus one midweek evening visit, with age-based adjustments for young children and a separate holiday rotation that overrides the regular pattern. The Domestic Relations Division of the Court of Common Pleas publishes this schedule, and it controls whenever parents have not agreed to their own shared parenting plan.¹

The Weekly Schedule

Every other weekend runs from Friday at 7:00 p.m. straight through to Sunday at 7:00 p.m. The midweek visit lands on Wednesday unless both parents agree on a different day. How late that midweek visit runs depends on the child’s age and school level:

Pre-school age (not yet in mandatory education): 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Kindergarten through 8th grade: 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
High school: 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

When siblings exchange together, the return time matches the youngest child’s bracket, which keeps a single drop-off instead of staggered ones.¹

Adjustments for Infants, Toddlers, and Teenagers

The standard Friday-to-Sunday block is not the starting point for the youngest children. The schedule phases in parenting time as the child grows:

Newborn through four months: two-hour daily visits with the non-residential parent.
Four to nine months: a few hours on Fridays and Sundays.
Nine to eighteen months: daytime blocks on alternating Saturdays and Sundays.
Around eighteen months: one overnight per week.
Age two or three: the full alternating-weekend rotation begins.¹

On the other end, a child between sixteen and eighteen can choose to spend either Friday night to Saturday night or Saturday night to Sunday night on their alternating weekends, rather than the full Friday-to-Sunday block, provided they give the non-residential parent one week’s notice.¹ The midweek visit also extends to 9:00 p.m. once the child reaches high school.

Holidays Override the Regular Schedule

Holiday parenting time takes priority over any other scheduled time, including regular weekends, midweek visits, birthdays, school breaks, and vacations.² If a holiday lands on your scheduled weekend and it belongs to the other parent that year, the holiday wins.

Holidays alternate between Parent 1 and Parent 2 on an even-year/odd-year rotation:

Easter: Parent 1 in even years, Parent 2 in odd years (Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.)
Memorial Day: Parent 2 in even years, Parent 1 in odd years (Sunday 7:00 p.m. to Monday 8:00 p.m.)
Fourth of July: Parent 1 in even years, Parent 2 in odd years (July 4 at 9:00 a.m. to July 5 at 9:00 a.m.)
Labor Day: Parent 2 in even years, Parent 1 in odd years (Sunday 7:00 p.m. to Monday 8:00 p.m.)
Halloween: Parent 2 in even years, Parent 1 in odd years (5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on the day Halloween is observed in the parent’s community)
Thanksgiving: Parent 1 in even years, Parent 2 in odd years (Thursday 9:00 a.m. to Friday 9:00 a.m.)
Christmas Eve: Parent 2 in even years, Parent 1 in odd years (December 23 at 9:00 p.m. to December 24 at 10:00 p.m.)
Christmas Day: Parent 1 in even years, Parent 2 in odd years (December 24 at 10:00 p.m. to December 25 at 9:00 p.m.)
New Year’s Eve/Day: Parent 2 in even years, Parent 1 in odd years (December 31 at 5:00 p.m. to January 1 at 9:00 p.m.)

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day go to the respective parent regardless of whose weekend it falls on.² Parents can swap a holiday by mutual agreement as long as they communicate the change at least one week in advance.

School Breaks and Summer Vacation

School breaks follow the same alternating pattern as holidays. Each break begins at 7:00 p.m. on the last day of school before the break and ends at 7:00 p.m. the night before school resumes. Winter break is split in half, with Parent 2 getting the first half in even years and the second half in odd years, and Parent 1 taking the opposite halves.

A parent who wants to take the child on vacation during summer must notify the other parent sixty days in advance and provide travel details (destination, departure and arrival times, and method of travel) at least two weeks before leaving the community.²

When Parents Live More Than 150 Miles Apart

Weekly exchanges stop being realistic over long distances, so Lucas County uses a separate set of long-distance guidelines that trade frequent short visits for longer uninterrupted blocks around school breaks.³

For a child age four or older, the non-residential parent receives the greater of seven weeks or half of the school’s summer vacation. The scheduling runs on a fixed calendar:

By March 15: the residential parent gives notice of the summer break dates.
By April 30: the non-residential parent selects summer dates and gives written notice.
By October 1: the residential parent provides the dates for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spring break.
By November 1: the non-residential parent confirms which break time they will exercise and the travel arrangements.

The non-residential parent’s summer time cannot include the last week before school starts unless both parents agree in writing. Break periods generally run from 6:00 p.m. on the last day of school to 6:00 p.m. the day before school resumes, with reasonable adjustments for airline schedules the traveling parent cannot control. The non-residential parent gets spring break in even years and Thanksgiving in odd years, plus half of winter break each year, with Christmas Day itself included in even years.³

Departing From the Standard Schedule

The standard schedule is the fallback, not a mandate. Parents who want something different can file a shared parenting plan that spells out their own transition days, times, and holiday division. If you build a custom plan, write every exchange in concrete detail. Vague language is where disputes start.

Two optional provisions worth considering as you draft a plan:

A right-of-first-refusal clause requires a parent who cannot personally care for the child during their scheduled time to offer that time to the other parent before using a babysitter or family member. These clauses typically kick in when the parent will be unavailable for three or more hours. They work best when both parents live close and have flexible schedules.

Virtual parenting time provisions cover phone calls, video chats, and texts between the child and the other parent, with designated days, times, and session lengths. Calls should not disrupt the child’s school, sleep, or daily routine, or interfere with the other parent’s scheduled time. Virtual contact supplements in-person time; it does not substitute for it.

Mediation If You Disagree

Lucas County favors mediation over litigation. Any judge, magistrate, or court counselor can refer parents to mediation at any point, and either parent can file a motion asking the court to order it. Parents operating under a shared parenting plan must attempt mediation before taking a dispute to court, with one exception: a motion to show cause for non-compliance.⁴ An agreement reached in mediation becomes binding once a judge signs it. Cases referred to the Court Counseling Department are screened for domestic violence before mediation begins.

Changing the Schedule Later

Ohio law allows modification of a parenting order, but the standard is high. The requesting parent must show a genuine change in circumstances since the original order (or facts that existed then but were unknown to the court) and that the modification serves the child’s best interest.⁵ Relocation, a significant change in the child’s needs or health, a parent’s new work schedule that breaks the current arrangement, or repeated interference with parenting time are the kinds of changes that typically clear the bar. Simply wanting more time, without an underlying change, does not.

Minor tweaks, like moving a midweek visit from Wednesday to Thursday, can often be handled through mediation and a stipulated order rather than a contested hearing. Changing which parent is the residential parent requires even more: the court must find that both parents agree, that the child has been integrated into the other parent’s household with the residential parent’s consent, or that the benefits of the change outweigh the harm of disrupting the child’s current environment.⁵

If the Other Parent Won’t Follow the Schedule

Enforcement runs through the court, not through the police. Officers will not remove a child from one parent’s home and deliver them to the other over a civil custody order; they will respond to a crime or genuine safety emergency, but otherwise they will tell you to take it back to court.

The primary remedy is a motion for contempt. If the court finds that the other parent willfully violated the order, Ohio law requires the violating parent to pay court costs from the contempt proceeding and the other parent’s reasonable attorney fees. The court may also award compensatory parenting time to make up for time that was lost, when the makeup time serves the child’s best interest.⁶ Penalties under Ohio Revised Code 2705.05 can include fines and jail time, and a contempt finding does not erase any other obligation the parent has.⁷ Keep a written log of every missed exchange, late pickup, and denied visit. That documentation is what makes a contempt motion stick.

How Overnights Affect Child Support

Overnight counts matter because they feed into child support. When court-ordered parenting time exceeds 90 overnights per year, the court must consider whether to reduce the support obligation through a deviation from the standard guidelines. If a parent has 147 or more overnights and the court still declines a deviation, the judge must explain on the record why not.⁸ Under the standard Lucas County schedule, the non-residential parent accumulates roughly 52 weekend overnights plus time from school breaks and holidays. Parents negotiating a shared parenting plan with close to equal time will often cross the 90-overnight threshold and should address the support implications in the plan itself.

1
Lucas County, Ohio. Local Parenting Schedule
2
Lucas County, Ohio. Local Parenting Time Schedule
3
Lucas County Domestic Relations Court. Rule 23B: Long-Distance Parenting Time Guidelines
4
Lucas County Domestic Relations Court. Rules of the Court of Common Pleas Domestic Relations Division
5
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 3109.04
6
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 3109.051
7
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 2705.031
8
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 3119.231