Holiday Custody Schedule Queensland: Dividing School Holidays and Special Days
Why Holiday Schedules Need Their Own Section
Your regular weekly care schedule covers 40 weeks of the year. The remaining 12 weeks — four Queensland school holiday periods — are governed by different rules entirely. And the public holidays, birthdays, and cultural celebrations scattered throughout the year add another layer of complexity.
Holiday scheduling generates more conflict between separated parents than almost any other topic. The reason is usually the same: the original parenting plan said something vague like "holidays will be shared equally" without specifying how, when, or what happens when the parents disagree. Specificity prevents disputes.
Dividing the Four School Holiday Periods
Queensland has four school holiday periods each year:
- Easter/Autumn break — approximately two weeks in late March or April
- Winter break — approximately two weeks in late June or July
- Spring break — approximately two weeks in late September or October
- Summer break — approximately six weeks from mid-December to late January
The most common approach is to alternate each holiday period between parents on a yearly rotation — Parent A gets Easter and Winter in even years, Parent B gets them in odd years, and they swap for Spring and Summer. The parent who has the Summer holiday in a given year gets the longer block, which balances against the other parent having two shorter holiday periods.
An alternative for younger children is to split each holiday period in half rather than alternating entire periods year by year. This prevents the child from going several weeks without seeing either parent, but it increases the number of changeovers.
Whichever approach you choose, specify exactly when holiday time starts and ends. "The school holidays" is ambiguous — does it include the last day of term? The first day back? A typical clause reads: "Holiday time begins at 10:00 AM on the first Saturday of the school holiday period and ends at 5:00 PM on the day before the term resumes."
Christmas and New Year
Christmas is the single most contested day in separated parenting. Three workable approaches:
Alternating years. Parent A has Christmas Eve through Boxing Day in even years; Parent B has those days in odd years. The parent without Christmas gets New Year's Eve through New Year's Day. Simple, clean, and avoids annual negotiation — but it means each parent misses every other Christmas morning entirely.
Split Christmas Day. The child spends Christmas Eve and Christmas morning (until 1:00 PM) with one parent and Christmas afternoon and evening (from 1:00 PM) with the other, swapping each year. This ensures both parents get part of Christmas Day every year, but the midday changeover can be stressful — particularly if the parents live far apart.
Alternate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. One parent always has Christmas Eve; the other always has Christmas Day. No annual swapping required. This works well for families with established Christmas traditions tied to a specific day.
Be explicit about whether Christmas Day arrangements override the regular weekly schedule. In most parenting plans, the holiday provisions take priority — if Christmas falls on a Monday and Monday is normally Parent A's day, the holiday clause still applies.
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Birthdays
The child's birthday is typically handled in one of two ways:
The birthday parent. One parent is designated as the birthday host (often alternating years), and the child spends the whole day with that parent regardless of the regular schedule.
Shared birthday. Both parents share the day — one has the morning and afternoon, the other has the evening. Or one parent hosts the birthday party, and the other has the child for a birthday dinner.
Each parent's own birthday, Mother's Day, and Father's Day are generally simple: the child spends those days with the relevant parent, overriding the regular schedule.
Public Holidays
Queensland public holidays (ANZAC Day, King's Birthday, Labour Day, and regional show days) can be handled by:
- Incorporating them into the regular schedule (they fall on whichever parent's day they fall on)
- Treating them as a long weekend — the parent who has the child on the Friday before a Monday public holiday keeps the child through Monday
- Alternating specific public holidays year by year
For most families, rolling public holidays into the regular schedule is the simplest approach. The exception is ANZAC Day and the local show day, which some parents want to share because of specific family or community traditions.
Travel Provisions
Any holiday schedule involving interstate or international travel needs additional clauses:
- Notice period. Set a written-notice period in the parenting plan before any travel outside Queensland; 28 days is one possible drafting choice. Include the destination, dates, accommodation details, and a contact number.
- Passport. Specify where the child's passport is stored and the process for releasing it for travel. Some parents agree that the passport is held by one parent and released upon written request using the notice period agreed in the plan.
- Consent to travel. If both parents hold parental responsibility, international travel generally requires both parents' consent (or a court order). Specify the process for requesting and providing written consent.
- Communication during travel. A daily video call or phone call at a set time, regardless of time zone differences.
Drafting Tips
Build in flexibility. A rigidly structured holiday schedule works on paper but can crumble when real life intervenes — a parent's annual leave changes, a child's camp dates shift, or a family event falls on the wrong weekend. Include a clause allowing variations by written agreement (email or text), with a provision that if no agreement is reached, the default holiday schedule applies.
Use a calendar. Before finalising any holiday schedule, overlay it on the actual Queensland school calendar for the current year. Verify that the proposed arrangements produce a sensible, balanced result — not a situation where one parent consistently gets the longer, more desirable holiday periods.
Plan for the first year. The first year after separation is the hardest. Consider specifying the first year's holiday arrangements explicitly (rather than relying on the even/odd year formula), so both parents have certainty during the transition period.
The Queensland Child Custody and Parenting Plan Guide includes pre-formatted holiday rotation templates with sample clauses for Christmas, school holidays, travel, and special occasions — ready to adapt to your family's specific circumstances.
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