Custody Schedules: Examples of Every Common Arrangement, Compared

A custody schedule is the calendar that decides where a child sleeps on each night of the year. Parents in a divorce often argue about percentages, but a child does not live in percentages. A child lives in Tuesdays, school mornings and Sunday evenings. Two schedules with the same split can feel completely different from the inside: one with a single handover a week, another with three.

This guide is the overview. It describes every common arrangement in a few lines, compares them in one table, and links to a detailed guide for each. If you already know which schedule you are considering, go straight to its page.

How to Read a Custody Schedule

Three numbers tell you most of what you need to know about any schedule. The parenting time calculator works out all three for any two-week pattern:

• Overnights per parent over fourteen days. Most schedules repeat every two weeks, so counting nights over fourteen days gives the true split. Seven and seven is 50/50. Ten and four is about 71/29.
• Exchanges per week. Every handover is a transition for the child and, in a high-conflict divorce, a possible incident between the parents.
• The longest stretch away from one parent. This is the number that matters most for young children.

The ratio describes physical custody only: where the child sleeps. Legal custody, the authority to make major decisions about school, healthcare and religion, is decided separately, and parents can share it under almost any schedule.

Custody Schedules Compared

All figures below are for the base rotation, before holidays and summer. Parent A is the parent with more overnights, or either parent where time is equal.

Exchanges are averaged over the two-week cycle. Where a handover happens at school or daycare, one parent drops off in the morning and the other picks up in the afternoon, so the parents never meet. That one detail removes most of the friction from schedules with frequent exchanges.

Equal-Time (50/50) Schedules

Alternating weeks (week on, week off). The child spends seven nights with Parent A, then seven with Parent B. The week on week off custody schedule has the fewest exchanges of any equal-time arrangement, usually on Friday after school or Monday morning, which makes it the common choice when exchanges produce conflict. The cost is a full week without one parent. Teenagers tend to handle it well; young children often do not, and a midweek dinner with the other parent shortens the gap.

2-2-3. Two nights, two nights, then a three-night weekend, with the pattern flipping every week. The child is never more than three nights from either parent, which is why it is often suggested for toddlers. The trade-off is three exchanges a week and weekdays that change from week to week. See the 2-2-3 custody schedule guide.

2-2-5-5 (also written 5-2-2-5). Each parent keeps the same two weeknights every week and the weekends alternate. Fixed weekdays make activities easy to plan; the price is a five-night stretch twice in each cycle. See the 2-2-5-5 custody schedule guide.

3-4-4-3. Three nights with one parent and four with the other, then the reverse, so only one night changes from week to week. It sits between the 2-2-3 and alternating weeks: two exchanges a week and a maximum of four nights apart. See the 3-4-4-3 custody schedule guide.

All four are compared in more depth in the 50/50 custody schedule guide, including when courts order equal time.

Unequal Schedules: 60/40, 70/30, 80/20

60/40. Shared parenting with a home base. The most common version is the 4-3 schedule, in which the child spends the same four nights with one parent and three with the other every week: 8 of 14 nights, or 57/43. Both parents still handle school nights. See the 60/40 custody schedule guide.

70/30. Typically alternating weekends plus one midweek overnight every week, which gives the second parent 4 of 14 nights, about 29%. The midweek overnight keeps that parent in the school-night routine. See the 70/30 custody schedule guide.

80/20. Usually alternating extended weekends from Friday after school to Monday morning: 3 of 14 nights, about 21%. With a share of holidays and summer, schedules built on shorter weekends also reach about 20% over a year. See the 80/20 custody schedule guide.

Every Other Weekend

The arrangement many people still picture as "standard visitation": the child is with the non-resident parent from Friday to Sunday on alternating weekends. On its own that is only 2 of 14 nights, about 14%. Most orders add a midweek dinner or overnight, a share of holidays and a block of summer time, which changes the real figure considerably. The every other weekend custody schedule guide covers the variants and how a parent builds from there toward more time.

Long-Distance Schedules

When the homes are hours apart, weekday and weekend exchanges stop being realistic. The child usually spends the school year with one parent, and the other has most of the summer, alternating major holidays, spring break, and long weekends when travel allows. Plans need to say who travels with the child, who pays, which airport or meeting point is used, and how much notice is given. Video calls on fixed days keep the distant parent in the child's ordinary week. If a move is what created the distance, see the guide on an ex relocating with the child.

Holiday and Summer Overlays

Every schedule above is a base rotation. A holiday schedule sits on top of it and takes priority on the days it covers: Thanksgiving, winter break, spring break, birthdays and summer vacation. The usual methods are alternating holidays by year, splitting the day, or assigning fixed holidays to each parent. A good holiday schedule also says whether the regular rotation resumes where it left off or restarts. See the holiday custody schedule guide for a sample table.

How to Choose a Schedule

By the child's age. The younger the child, the shorter the time away from either parent should be. Toddlers and preschoolers often manage two or three nights apart better than five or seven; this is where the 2-2-3 is most used. School-age children can usually manage four or five nights, and fixed weekdays start to matter because of activities. Teenagers tend to prefer longer blocks, such as alternating weeks, and their own views carry more weight as they grow older.

By distance. Equal-time schedules assume both homes are close to one school. Once the school run from one home becomes long, the realistic options narrow to schedules where that parent has weekends, holidays and summer.

By conflict level. The higher the conflict, the fewer and calmer the exchanges should be. Alternating weeks, or any schedule with exchanges through school, reduces direct contact between the parents. If every exchange escalates, check the seven markers of a high-conflict divorce and consider a parallel parenting plan alongside the schedule.

By work patterns. A parent with a fixed late shift, weekend work or regular travel needs a schedule that fits around it. Fixed-weekday rotations (2-2-5-5, 3-4-4-3, 4-3) make this easier than rotating ones.

By what is already happening. Courts decide custody under the "best interests of the child" standard, and judges are reluctant to disrupt an arrangement that is working. Whatever schedule is running during the separation tends to shape the final order, which is why the temporary period matters so much.

Many families change schedules as the child grows: a 2-2-3 for a toddler, a 2-2-5-5 or 3-4-4-3 at school age, alternating weeks for a teenager. Writing those steps into the parenting plan in advance avoids a new dispute at each stage.

What Any Proposed Schedule Should Include

• A full-year calendar with the base rotation, holidays, school breaks and summer, and overnight totals for each parent.
• Exchange times and places, ideally at school or daycare, with a neutral fallback location.
• Who covers recurring commitments such as activities, therapy and medical appointments.
• Rules for changes: how much notice, in writing, and what happens to missed time.
• Communication between the parents and with the child, for example a fixed call time when the child is with the other parent.
• A record of what actually happens. Once a schedule is running, a dated log of exchanges, late arrivals and cancelled time is the evidence any later hearing will rely on. The custody journal shows a format that stays factual.

Underneath Divorce is a book in progress about high-conflict divorce and custody disputes, and the pattern that turns ordinary arrangements like these into long fights. The tools on this site come from it.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Custody law varies by jurisdiction.