Alabama does not write a single visitation schedule into state law. Instead, each judicial circuit publishes its own default order, and the standard visitation schedule in Alabama that a judge applies when parents cannot agree looks much the same from circuit to circuit: the noncustodial parent gets alternating weekends, one midweek contact, a rotating list of holidays, and an extended block of summer time. The exact hours and handoff rules depend on which county you are in, but the template is consistent enough that you can plan around it.
Every visitation decision runs through a best-interests analysis under Alabama Code Section 30-3-132, which lists ten factors the court must weigh, including each parent’s relationship with the child, the child’s developmental needs, any history of domestic violence, and each parent’s willingness to support the child’s relationship with the other parent. When both parents request joint custody, the law presumes joint custody serves the child’s best interests, and a court can order it even without both parents’ agreement.1Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 30-3-152 – Factors Considered; Order The visitation schedule then fills in how the time is actually divided.
Weekday and Midweek Time
Standard orders in Alabama typically give the noncustodial parent one midweek contact during the school year. In Marshall County, that visit runs every Tuesday evening from 6:00 p.m. through Wednesday morning at the time school or daycare starts. If the child is not in school, the visit ends at 8:00 a.m. Wednesday. The Tuesday visit does not apply when the noncustodial parent lives more than 45 miles from the custodial parent, measured as a straight-line radius rather than driving distance.2Marshall County Unified Family Court. Standard Custody and Visitation Order Exhibit A
Morgan County takes a different approach. On weeks when the noncustodial parent already has a scheduled weekend visit, that parent picks the child up on Thursday after school and keeps the child through Monday morning. On off-weeks, the noncustodial parent still gets Thursday after school through Friday morning.3Morgan County Circuit Court. Exhibit A Visitation Schedule Revised as of January 3, 2025 The result is more total weekday contact than Marshall County’s order gives, which is one reason the circuit you file in matters.
Unless the order says otherwise, the noncustodial parent handles pick-up and drop-off for weekday visits. Judges expect midweek time not to interfere with school. If you live close to your child’s school, an overnight on a weeknight is more likely to be approved. If you live far away, the court may limit midweek contact to phone calls or shorten the visit to avoid late-night travel on a school night.
Alternating Weekends
Alternating weekends are the backbone of nearly every standard visitation order in Alabama. Marshall County’s order grants the noncustodial parent the first, third, and fifth Fridays of each month from 6:00 p.m. Friday until 6:00 p.m. Sunday.2Marshall County Unified Family Court. Standard Custody and Visitation Order Exhibit A Morgan County starts weekends when school lets out on Friday and extends them through Monday morning when the child returns to school, which effectively adds an overnight.3Morgan County Circuit Court. Exhibit A Visitation Schedule Revised as of January 3, 2025
When a scheduled holiday overlaps with a regular weekend, the holiday schedule overrides the weekend rotation. After the holiday, the alternating pattern picks up where it would have been. This keeps one parent from losing consecutive weekends just because a holiday fell at an awkward time.
Transportation can become a sticking point, especially when parents live in different counties. Most standard orders place the driving burden on the noncustodial parent. If the distance creates real hardship, a judge may split the driving or designate a midpoint exchange location.
Right of First Refusal
Some Alabama parenting plans include a right-of-first-refusal clause. If you need a babysitter during your parenting time, you offer that time to the other parent first. Parents often set a minimum trigger of five to eight hours, meaning the clause only applies if you will be away at least that long. It is not part of every standard order, but you can negotiate it into your agreement or ask the court for it. In cooperative families it adds parenting time for both sides; in high-conflict households it tends to generate more arguments than it solves, so judges weigh the family dynamic before including it.
Holidays
Holidays and school breaks override the regular weekday and weekend rotation. Standard orders alternate the major holidays on an odd-year/even-year basis so each parent gets roughly equal time over a two-year cycle.
Christmas and Winter Break
Christmas is typically split at noon on December 25. In Marshall County’s standard order, the noncustodial parent has the child from the time school recesses for winter break until noon on Christmas Day in odd-numbered years, then from noon on Christmas Day through noon on New Year’s Day in even-numbered years. The custodial parent gets the opposite half each year.2Marshall County Unified Family Court. Standard Custody and Visitation Order Exhibit A Christmas visitation supersedes any conflicting weekday or weekend schedule.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving commonly runs from Wednesday afternoon through Sunday evening of Thanksgiving weekend. In Marshall County, the noncustodial parent gets this block in even-numbered years and the custodial parent has it in odd-numbered years. Like Christmas, the Thanksgiving schedule overrides any conflicting weekend rotation.
Spring Break
Morgan County’s order gives the noncustodial parent each spring break from Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. until the Monday when school resumes, though this provision does not take effect until the child (or the oldest child, if there are multiple) turns five.3Morgan County Circuit Court. Exhibit A Visitation Schedule Revised as of January 3, 2025 Other circuits alternate spring break by odd and even years or split it in half. If the parents live far apart, courts sometimes award the entire break to one parent in alternating years to reduce travel on the child.
Birthdays and Parent Days
Morgan County guarantees that whichever parent does not have the child on the child’s birthday gets a three-hour visit between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.3Morgan County Circuit Court. Exhibit A Visitation Schedule Revised as of January 3, 2025 Marshall County gives the noncustodial parent each child’s birthday from 6:00 p.m. until the next morning. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day go to the respective parent regardless of whose weekend it falls on. Graduations, religious ceremonies, and family reunions are usually handled by mutual agreement or addressed specifically in the order.
Summer Vacation
Summer is where the noncustodial parent gets the most concentrated time with the child. Marshall County’s standard order uses a seven-days-on, seven-days-off rotation that begins the first Friday of June and ends the last Friday before school starts in August.2Marshall County Unified Family Court. Standard Custody and Visitation Order Exhibit A Some circuits replace the week-on, week-off format with a continuous block of two to four weeks. Either way, summer visitation takes the place of the regular alternating-weekend schedule for as long as it runs.
Phone and Video Contact
Most modern Alabama visitation orders include provisions for phone and video calls. Morgan County’s standard order guarantees both parents reasonable telephone access to the children while they are with the other parent. If the parents cannot agree on timing, the default window is 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.3Morgan County Circuit Court. Exhibit A Visitation Schedule Revised as of January 3, 2025
Alabama does not have a standalone virtual visitation statute, but courts increasingly include video call language in parenting plans, especially when parents live far apart. Video calls are treated as a supplement to in-person time, not a substitute. If your order does not address electronic communication and you want it included, you can ask the court to add specific language on call frequency, duration, and platform.
When the Standard Schedule Does Not Apply
The standard schedule assumes both parents are safe for unsupervised contact. When they are not, the court can order supervised visitation instead. Alabama Code Section 30-3-135 allows a court to award visitation to a parent who committed domestic violence only if adequate safety provisions can be made, and specifically authorizes supervised visits or other protective measures. Common grounds for supervision include documented domestic violence, substance abuse, threats of abduction, or a pattern of behavior that puts the child at risk.
Supervision comes in two forms. A professional supervisor is a trained, paid individual or agency that monitors the visit and reports back to the court. A nonprofessional supervisor is a family member or mutual friend the court approves. Nonprofessional supervisors cost nothing, but courts generally reserve them for lower-risk situations because these individuals lack training to handle volatile dynamics. Stepping down from supervised to standard visitation is not automatic; the supervised parent must petition the court and show that circumstances have changed enough to justify unsupervised contact.
If the Standard Schedule Does Not Fit Your Family
The circuit’s standard order is a starting point, not a ceiling. Parents who can agree on their own schedule are free to submit a joint parenting plan, and courts approve those with far less scrutiny than a contested arrangement. Shift workers, long-distance parents, families with special-needs children, and parents of infants often need something different from the alternating-weekend template, and a well-drafted agreed plan can go in front of the judge instead of the default.
Once an order is in place, changing it over the other parent’s objection is harder. Under Ex parte McLendon, the parent seeking the modification must prove a material change in circumstances since the last order and show that the positive benefit of the change outweighs the inherent disruption of uprooting the child’s routine.4Justia Law. Ex Parte McLendon – 455 So. 2d 863 (1984) – Supreme Court of Alabama Decisions Showing you have remarried or improved your finances is not enough on its own. If both parents agree on the change, a joint petition will usually move through the court quickly.
Before you walk into negotiation or a hearing, pull your circuit’s standard order from the local circuit court’s website and read it in full. That document is the baseline the judge is likely to start from, and knowing exactly what it says puts you in a position to accept it, modify it around specific needs, or propose something better supported by the facts of your family.