Texas Custody Schedule: Standard Possession, Holidays, and Summer

The Texas custody schedule most families follow is the standard possession order, a court-ordered default that gives the parent without primary custody time with the child on the first, third, and fifth weekends of each month, a Thursday period during the school year, alternating holidays, and a 30-day block in the summer.¹ Texas courts call this “possession and access” rather than custody or visitation, and the exact shape of your schedule depends on how far apart the parents live, the child’s age, and whether you negotiate your own plan instead of accepting the default.²

The Default Weekly Schedule

The standard possession order applies to children three and older when parents live within 100 miles of each other. The possessory conservator, meaning the parent who does not have primary custody, has the child on the first, third, and fifth weekends of each month from 6 p.m. Friday until 6 p.m. Sunday. During the school year, that parent also gets Thursday evenings from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., unless the court finds the midweek visit is not in the child’s best interest.³

Weekends stretch when a school holiday or teacher in-service day falls on the Friday or Monday next to the possessory conservator’s weekend. The possession period extends to include that extra day.

When the Schedule Expands Automatically

Since 2021, Texas automatically applies expanded possession times when the possessory conservator lives within 50 miles of the child’s primary home.⁴ The weekend rotation stays the same, but the clock changes. Instead of a 6 p.m. Friday pickup, the weekend starts when school lets out Friday afternoon and runs until school resumes Monday morning. The Thursday evening visit becomes a full overnight: pickup at school dismissal Thursday, drop-off at school Friday morning.⁵

This adds roughly two overnights per week compared to the plain 6 p.m. schedule. A court can decline the expanded times when they are not in the child’s best interest, including situations where the distance between homes makes school-based pickups impractical or where the possessory conservator did not regularly handle parenting responsibilities before the case was filed.⁴ The possessory conservator can also turn down the expanded schedule in writing or on the record.

Parents who live between 50 and 100 miles apart stay on the standard 6 p.m. times unless the possessory conservator affirmatively elects the expanded schedule in writing or on the record before or at the time the court issues the order.⁵

Holidays and School Breaks

Holiday possession overrides the regular weekend and Thursday schedule, and it applies no matter how far apart the parents live.⁶

Christmas

Winter break splits at noon on December 28. In even-numbered years, the possessory conservator has the child from 6 p.m. on the last day of school through noon on December 28, covering Christmas Day. In odd years, that parent takes the second half, from noon on December 28 through 6 p.m. the day before school resumes. The managing conservator always has the opposite half, so the parents alternate Christmas and New Year’s year over year.⁶

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving belongs to the possessory conservator in odd-numbered years, from 6 p.m. when school dismisses through 6 p.m. the following Sunday. The managing conservator has that window in even years.⁶

Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Birthdays

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day do not rotate. The mother always has the child from 6 p.m. Friday before Mother’s Day through 6 p.m. Sunday, and the father has the equivalent window for Father’s Day. If the parent is not otherwise scheduled to have the child that weekend, they pick up at the other parent’s home and return the child there.⁶

On the child’s birthday, the parent who would not otherwise have the child that day gets a two-hour visit from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., with pickup and return at the other parent’s home.⁶

Spring Break

For parents within 100 miles, spring break alternates. The possessory conservator has the child in even-numbered years from 6 p.m. on the day school lets out through 6 p.m. the day before school resumes. The managing conservator gets the same period in odd years.³

Summer Possession and the April 1 Deadline

The possessory conservator has 30 days of extended summer possession when parents live within 100 miles of each other. The default runs 30 consecutive days from 6 p.m. on July 1 through 6 p.m. on July 31. If you want flexibility to work around camps, vacations, or job schedules, you need to send the managing conservator written notice by April 1 identifying the days you want. That notice lets you split the 30 days into up to two blocks of at least seven consecutive days each.³ Miss the April 1 deadline and you are locked into July.

The managing conservator has their own notice deadline. By sending written notice by April 15, they can claim one weekend during the possessory conservator’s summer period, from Friday 6 p.m. to Sunday 6 p.m., provided they handle all the transportation.³

When Parents Live More Than 100 Miles Apart

Distance changes the schedule in several ways. The possessory conservator can keep the first, third, and fifth weekend rotation or switch to one weekend per month of their choosing. The single-weekend option requires 14 days’ written or phone notice before the chosen weekend, and the election itself has to be made in writing within 90 days of the parents beginning to live more than 100 miles apart.⁷

The Thursday evening visit disappears. In exchange, the summer block grows from 30 days to 42, and spring break goes to the possessory conservator every year instead of alternating. The 42 days default to June 15 through July 27, or can be split into up to two blocks of at least seven consecutive days each if the possessory conservator sends written notice by April 1.⁷

Children Under Three

The standard possession order is built for school-aged children. For infants and toddlers, the court writes a tailored schedule based on which parent has been the primary caregiver, the child’s developmental needs, how close the parents live, and the child’s need to form healthy attachments to both parents.⁸

These orders often step up over time. Early phases may be short daytime visits several times a week with no overnights. Overnight stays get added as the child grows or becomes more comfortable. The statute also requires the court to include a prospective order that takes effect on the child’s third birthday and presumptively shifts the family to the full standard possession order at that point.⁸

Building Your Own Schedule Instead

Nothing in Texas law forces you to accept the default. You and the other parent can write an agreed parenting plan with whatever weekday, weekend, holiday, and summer arrangement fits your family, and a judge will approve it as long as it serves the child’s best interest. If the court finds the plan falls short, it can send you back to revise it or impose its own order after a hearing.⁹

Even once the standard possession order is in place, the order itself allows parents to deviate from the set times whenever they agree in advance. The specified schedule only governs when there is no mutual agreement for a given weekend, holiday, or summer period.

Changing the Schedule Later

Possession orders can be modified when a change would serve the child’s best interest and at least one of the following applies:

The circumstances of the child, a parent, or another affected party have changed materially and substantially since the order was issued or the mediated settlement agreement was signed.¹⁰
A child who is at least 12 years old tells the judge in chambers which parent they prefer to live with primarily.¹⁰
The parent with primary custody has voluntarily given up day-to-day care of the child for at least six months, with military deployment time excluded from that count.¹⁰

Not liking the current schedule is not a ground on its own. Courts look for real changes: a relocation, a new school or medical situation, or a pattern of one parent ignoring the existing order.

When the Other Parent Won’t Follow It

A possession order is enforceable. If the other parent withholds the child, blocks access, or returns the child late as a pattern, you can file a motion for enforcement. The court can hold a noncompliant parent in contempt, which carries fines or jail time.

When the court finds a violation, it must order the noncompliant parent to pay the other parent’s reasonable attorney’s fees and all court costs, waiving that obligation only for good cause and with written reasoning. The court can also order makeup time matching the type and length of what was denied, and the parent who was denied time chooses when the makeup periods happen. Makeup time has to be used within two years of the court’s finding.¹¹

Delay does not kill the remedy. The court keeps jurisdiction over a contempt motion filed up to six months after the child turns 18 or the possession right otherwise ends.¹¹

1
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 153.252 – Rebuttable Presumption
2
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 153.002 – Best Interest of Child
3
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 153.312 – Parents Who Reside 100 Miles or Less Apart
4
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 153.3171 – Beginning and Ending Possession Times for Parents Who Reside 50 Miles or Less Apart
5
State of Texas. Texas Code FAM 153.317 – Alternative Beginning and Ending Possession Times
6
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 153.314 – Holiday Possession Unaffected by Distance Parents Reside Apart
7
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 153.313 – Parents Who Reside Over 100 Miles Apart
8
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 153.254 – Child Less Than Three Years of Age
9
State of Texas. Texas Code FAM 153.007 – Agreed Parenting Plan
10
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 156.101 – Grounds for Modification of Order Establishing Conservatorship or Possession and Access
11
Justia Law. Texas Family Code Chapter 157 – Enforcement