Texas Family Code Chapter 153 Subchapter F: Standard Possession Order

The Texas Standard Possession Order is the default visitation schedule Texas courts use for the parent who does not have primary custody. It sets out weekends, a weekday evening, holidays, and summer time, and the specifics shift depending on whether you live within 100 miles of your child’s primary residence or farther. Courts treat it as the presumed minimum amount of time a possessory conservator should have, so if no one asks for something different, this is what the order will say.

Regular Schedule When You Live Within 100 Miles

If you live 100 miles or less from your child’s primary residence, Texas Family Code § 153.312 gives you the child on the first, third, and fifth Friday of each month, from 6:00 p.m. Friday until 6:00 p.m. Sunday.¹ Fifth weekends come automatically in the months that have them.

During the school term you also get a Thursday evening visit each week, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., unless the court specifically finds that the midweek time would not be in the child’s best interest.¹ Parents often overlook this weekly touchpoint, but it is part of the standard schedule.

Summer gives you 30 days of possession. If you send written notice to the other parent by April 1 setting your dates, you can split those 30 days into two blocks of at least seven consecutive days each. Miss that April 1 deadline and the default block runs from 6:00 p.m. on July 1 through 6:00 p.m. on July 31.¹

Spring break alternates. The possessory conservator has spring break in even-numbered years, and the managing conservator has it in odd-numbered years.¹

Regular Schedule When You Live More Than 100 Miles Apart

Section 153.313 changes the schedule when the possessory conservator lives more than 100 miles from the child. For weekends, you can either keep the first-third-fifth Friday pattern or choose one weekend of your own picking each month. The one-weekend option requires 14 days’ written or telephonic notice to the other parent, and you have to formally elect it within 90 days of the parents beginning to live more than 100 miles apart.²

Spring break shifts too. At this distance, you get spring break every year rather than in alternating years. Summer possession goes from 30 days to 42 days. The April 1 written notice deadline still applies; without it, the default 42-day block runs from 6:00 p.m. on June 15 through 6:00 p.m. on July 27.² Parents in the over-100-miles category do not receive the Thursday evening visit.

Holidays

The holiday schedule in § 153.314 overrides both the regular weekend rotation and the Thursday visit, and it works the same whether the parents live five miles apart or five hundred.³

Christmas is split at noon on December 28. In even-numbered years, the possessory conservator has the first half, from school dismissal through noon on December 28. In odd-numbered years, the possessory conservator has the second half, from noon on December 28 through the day before school resumes. The managing conservator takes whichever half is left.
Thanksgiving runs from 6:00 p.m. on the day school lets out through 6:00 p.m. Sunday. The possessory conservator has this block in odd-numbered years and the managing conservator has it in even-numbered years.
The child’s birthday. Whichever parent does not otherwise have the child that day gets a visit from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., picking up and returning the child at the other parent’s home.
Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Each parent has the child from 6:00 p.m. the preceding Friday through 6:00 p.m. on the holiday, regardless of whose weekend it would otherwise be.

Weekend Extensions Around School Holidays

Section 153.315 automatically stretches a regular weekend when it butts up against a school or government holiday. If the Monday following your weekend is a student holiday, a teacher in-service day, or a federal, state, or local holiday, your weekend extends to 6:00 p.m. Monday. If the Friday leading into your weekend is one of those days, possession starts at 6:00 p.m. Thursday instead.⁴ No separate agreement between parents is required.

The Expanded Standard Possession Order

Section 153.317 lets either parent elect alternative beginning and ending times that meaningfully expand the schedule. This is usually called the expanded SPO, and when a parent elects it the court must grant it unless the court finds the change would not serve the child’s best interest.⁵

Under the expanded election, weekend possession can start when school dismisses on Friday rather than at 6:00 p.m., and can end when school resumes Monday morning rather than at 6:00 p.m. Sunday. The Thursday visit can likewise start at school dismissal and run overnight until school resumes Friday morning, converting the two-hour evening slot into a full overnight. If you want the expanded schedule, ask for it in your original order or in a modification; courts rarely deny it without a specific finding of harm.

Pickups, Drop-offs, and Exchange Rules

Section 153.316 handles the logistics that apply to every exchange, regardless of distance. At the start of each period, the managing conservator surrenders the child, generally at the managing conservator’s residence, and the possessory conservator can instead elect to pick the child up at school when it dismisses.⁶

Return works one of two ways. Either the possessory conservator surrenders the child at the possessory conservator’s home, or returns the child to the managing conservator’s home. The choice depends on whether the managing conservator moved out of the original county after the order was entered. If the managing conservator relocated and the possessory conservator stayed put, the managing conservator picks the child up from the possessory conservator’s residence.⁶

A few other exchange rules matter:

Send the child home with the personal belongings they arrived with.
Either parent may designate a competent adult to handle pickup or return, but a parent or designated adult must be physically present at each exchange.
If you cannot exercise a scheduled period, notify the other parent ahead of time.

What You Can Do During Your Time With the Child

Scheduling is only half the picture. Section 153.074 sets out the rights and duties that apply whenever a conservator has physical possession of the child.⁷

You have the duty of care, control, and protection, and the authority to impose reasonable discipline.
You must provide clothing, food, shelter, and routine medical and dental care that does not involve an invasive procedure.
You can consent to non-invasive medical and dental treatment. For invasive procedures or surgery, the managing conservator’s consent is generally required unless it is a genuine emergency.
You may direct the child’s moral and religious training during your possession time.

The line between non-invasive and invasive medical care is worth understanding. A routine doctor’s visit or dental cleaning is within your authority. Elective surgery or a procedure requiring anesthesia is not. Section 153.192 confirms that a possessory conservator’s rights come from these baseline provisions plus any additional rights the court order specifically grants.⁸

When Family Violence Changes the Schedule

The SPO is not automatic when family violence is in the picture. Under § 153.004, if credible evidence shows a history or pattern of family violence within the two years before the suit was filed, the court may deny access to the child entirely.⁹

If the court still allows access after finding that access would not endanger the child and would serve the child’s best interest, it builds protections into the order. Those can include supervised visitation by a court-approved person or entity, exchanges in a protective setting, abstaining from alcohol or controlled substances for at least 12 hours before and during possession, or completing a battering intervention program.⁹

Changing the Order Later

Circumstances change, and § 156.101 allows a court to modify a possession order if two things are true: the change must be in the child’s best interest, and the circumstances of the child or a conservator must have materially and substantially changed since the order was entered or a mediated settlement agreement was signed.¹⁰

A few specific situations qualify on their own. If the child is at least 12 and tells the judge in chambers which parent they prefer to live with, the court may modify on that basis. If the managing conservator has voluntarily given up primary care and possession for at least six months, that also opens the door. Military deployment does not count as voluntarily giving up possession, so a deployed service member does not lose the custodial designation for that reason.¹⁰

The material and substantial change requirement is where most modification fights happen. A new job, a relocation, a remarriage, or a change in the child’s needs can all qualify, but the parent asking for the change carries the burden of proof. Courts turn down modifications where the only real change is that one parent has grown tired of the current schedule.

1
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 153.312 – Parents Who Reside 100 Miles or Less Apart
2
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 153.313 – Parents Who Reside Over 100 Miles Apart
3
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 153.314 – Holiday Possession Unaffected by Distance Parents Reside Apart
4
State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 153.315 – Weekend Possession Extended by Holiday
5
State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 153.317 – Alternative Beginning and Ending Possession Times
6
State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 153.316 – General Terms and Conditions
7
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 153.074 – Rights and Duties During Period of Possession
8
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 153.192 – Rights and Duties of Parent Appointed Possessory Conservator
9
State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 153.004 – History of Domestic Violence or Sexual Abuse
10
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 156.101 – Grounds for Modification of Order Establishing Conservatorship or Possession and Access