Warren County Parenting Schedule: Holidays, Summer, and Moves

Warren County’s default parenting schedule, set out in Local Rule 4.3 and the court’s Basic I template, gives the non-residential parent alternating weekends from Friday at 6:00 p.m. to Sunday at 6:00 p.m. plus a midweek evening visit during the school year, with holidays, summer, and vacation time layered on top.¹ It applies whenever parents cannot agree on a custom plan or when a judge needs a fallback framework.²

Weekends and the Midweek Visit

Under Basic I, the non-residential parent has the children every other weekend, Friday 6:00 p.m. to Sunday 6:00 p.m. During the school year, that parent also gets a midweek visit every Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., or another weekday if both parents agree.²

Those times are hard cutoffs. If one parent is late or misses the exchange entirely, the other parent is not required to extend the visit to make up for it. A magistrate or judge can shift the standard times if work schedules or school logistics call for it, but absent that, the clock on the order controls.

Holiday Rotation

Holidays override the regular weekend rotation. Warren County splits them on an odd-year/even-year system, assigning each major holiday to one parent in odd-numbered years and the other in even-numbered years, with specific clock times for each handoff rather than vague morning or evening windows.²

Thanksgiving

The parent assigned Thanksgiving has the children from Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. through Thursday at 7:00 p.m. If the following weekend already belongs to that same parent under the regular rotation, the time rolls through the weekend as well.²

Christmas and Winter Break

Winter break splits in two. One parent takes the first half, from December 21 (or the last day of school, whichever is later) at 6:00 p.m. through December 24 at 9:00 p.m. The other takes the second half, from December 24 at 9:00 p.m. through January 1 at 6:00 p.m. In odd-numbered years the mother gets the second block, Christmas Eve night through New Year’s; in even-numbered years the father does.² The halves swap each year so neither parent is permanently shut out of Christmas morning.

Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Spring Break

Mother’s Day belongs to the mother from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and Father’s Day belongs to the father during the same hours, regardless of whose weekend it would otherwise be. Spring break alternates on the odd/even rotation, running from 9:00 a.m. the day after school lets out until 6:00 p.m. the day before school resumes. Spring break only covers school-age children and younger siblings who are at least six months old.²

Birthdays

The standard schedule has no special rule for a child’s birthday. Unless the parents agree otherwise or the court adds it, the regular rotation decides whose house the child is at on their birthday.² If alternating birthdays matters to you, build it into a written agreement.

Summer and Extended Vacation Time

The non-residential parent gets a block of extended summer time, and the amount scales with the child’s age:²

Six months to four years: up to two weeks, non-consecutive.
Four to five years: up to two consecutive weeks.
Six and older: up to four weeks total, with no more than two consecutive weeks at a stretch.

The residential parent also gets up to two weeks of vacation time. Every vacation block has to be at least seven days long. Each parent must give the other at least 30 days of written notice with specific dates, and if the requests overlap, whoever gave written notice first wins the conflict.² Children under six months are not eligible for extended vacation time at all.

Any traveling parent must share the destination, arrival and departure times, and method of travel with the other parent. When siblings fall into different age brackets, the schedule for the oldest child governs all of them, so a younger sibling is not left behind while an older one goes on a two-week trip. One detail that surprises people: child support does not drop during summer vacation periods, even when the non-residential parent has the children for several weeks straight.²

Transportation and the 25-Mile Rule

If either parent moves and the distance between the two homes grows by more than 25 miles from what it was at the time of the last court order, the parent who moved must provide all transportation until the court says otherwise.² The relocating parent can file a motion asking the court to redistribute transportation duties, but until a hearing happens, the full burden stays with the person who created the extra distance. A parent who moves without planning for the driving can end up logging hundreds of extra miles each month just to keep the existing schedule running.

Changing the Schedule

To change an existing parenting time order, you generally have to show that circumstances have changed since the last order and that the modification serves the child’s best interest.³ A new work schedule, a school change, or a move are the usual triggers. You file a motion to modify with the Warren County Domestic Relations Court, explain what has changed, and propose a new schedule. The court sets a hearing where both sides present evidence. Judges tend not to disturb stable arrangements without a concrete reason, so inconvenience alone rarely gets a schedule rewritten.

Notice Before a Move

Ohio law requires the residential parent to file a notice of intent to relocate with the court before changing addresses.⁴ The court forwards the notice to the other parent, and either the court or the non-residential parent can ask for a hearing to decide whether the schedule needs to change. Moving without filing that notice can trigger contempt and will not help your position in any later dispute, since the court weighs each parent’s willingness to facilitate the other’s access to the child.

Enforcement When the Other Parent Won’t Follow It

When one parent refuses to follow the court-ordered schedule, the other parent can file a contempt action.⁵ Ohio’s penalties step up with each violation:

First offense: fine of up to $250, up to 30 days in jail, or both.
Second offense: fine of up to $500, up to 60 days in jail, or both.
Third or later offense: fine of up to $1,000, up to 90 days in jail, or both.

On top of those penalties, the court must order the person held in contempt to pay the court costs from the proceeding and the other parent’s reasonable attorney’s fees. The court can also award compensatory parenting time to make up for the denied visits, provided the make-up time is in the child’s best interest.⁴

Calling the police rarely helps. Officers generally treat parenting disputes as civil matters and will tell you to take it to the court. The contempt process is the real lever, and a written record of every missed or late exchange is what builds a usable case.

Who Claims the Child on Taxes

The parenting schedule drives one tax question that comes up every year. Under IRS rules, the custodial parent, meaning the parent the child lives with for more than half the year, has the right to claim the child as a dependent.⁶ That claim controls eligibility for the child tax credit, the additional child tax credit, and the credit for other dependents.

The custodial parent can release the dependency claim to the non-custodial parent by signing IRS Form 8332. The release can cover a single year, specific years such as every other year, or all future years, and the non-custodial parent attaches the form to their return each year they claim the child. A later revocation does not take effect until the following tax year.⁶

Form 8332 only moves the dependency exemption and the related credits. It does not transfer the earned income credit, the dependent care credit, or head-of-household filing status; those stay with the custodial parent regardless.⁶ Writing the tax question into the parenting agreement from the start avoids a yearly argument over who files first.

1
Warren County Court of Common Pleas. Warren County Court of Common Pleas Division of Domestic Relations Local Rules
2
Warren County Domestic Relations Court. Basic Parenting Schedules
3
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 3109.04 – Best Interest of the Child
4
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 3109.051 – Parenting Time, Companionship or Visitation Rights
5
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2705 – Contempt of Court
6
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 504 – Divorced or Separated Individuals