Holiday Custody Schedule in Tennessee: How to Divide Holidays and Breaks

Holiday and school break schedules cause more custody disputes than almost any other issue. Your regular weekly rotation covers most of the year, but holidays, summer vacation, and school breaks require their own section in the Permanent Parenting Plan — and Tennessee courts expect specific, detailed allocations.

How Holiday Schedules Work

Holiday provisions override the regular weekly schedule. If it's your regular parenting week but the plan assigns Christmas to the other parent, the holiday provision controls.

Tennessee's AOC Permanent Parenting Plan form includes a dedicated holiday section that requires specific assignments for each major holiday. The two most common approaches:

Alternating Years

Parent A gets Thanksgiving in even years, Parent B gets it in odd years. Christmas reverses. This is the most common structure because it's simple and ensures both parents experience every holiday over time.

Fixed Holidays

Each parent always gets the same holidays. For example, one parent always takes the Fourth of July and Labor Day, while the other always takes Memorial Day and Presidents' Day. This works when specific holidays carry cultural, religious, or family significance that makes alternating impractical.

The Major Holiday Breakdown

Thanksgiving

Most plans structure Thanksgiving as Wednesday evening through Sunday evening, covering the full school break. Some plans split it — one parent gets Wednesday through Friday, the other gets Saturday through Sunday — but this disrupts the holiday feel and creates an unnecessary mid-weekend exchange.

Christmas/Winter Break

This is the most detailed section of any holiday schedule. Common structures:

Split Christmas: One parent gets December 23 through Christmas morning (around 10 a.m.), the other gets Christmas afternoon through December 26 or 27. The parents alternate which half they get each year.

Split the break: Parent A gets the first half of winter break (through December 25 at noon), Parent B gets the second half (December 25 at noon through the day before school resumes). This alternates annually.

Alternating full breaks: One parent gets the entire winter break in even years, the other in odd years. Less common but eliminates mid-holiday exchanges.

Specify exact times, not "Christmas Day." A plan that says "Parent A has Christmas" guarantees a fight about whether that means December 24 at 6 p.m. or December 25 at 8 a.m.

Spring Break

Typically alternates annually or follows the regular weekly schedule. Some plans give spring break to the parent who didn't have the majority of winter break that same year.

Summer Vacation

Summer is where the Alternative Residential Parent (ARP) often gets extended time to balance the school-year schedule. Common structures:

• Block approach: The ARP gets two to four consecutive weeks during summer. The regular weekly schedule applies for the remaining summer weeks.
• Split summer: Each parent gets roughly half the summer in alternating two-week blocks.
• Extended ARP summer: In long-distance parenting situations, the ARP may get the majority of summer (6–8 weeks) to compensate for limited school-year time.

Regardless of structure, the plan should specify a deadline for notifying the other parent of summer vacation dates — typically 30–60 days before summer begins.

Other Days to Address

Don't overlook these — they cause disputes when left unspecified:

• Mother's Day / Father's Day: Children are with the respective parent regardless of the regular schedule. This seems obvious, but state it explicitly.
• Children's birthdays: Common approaches include the birthday parent getting the child from school dismissal through 8 p.m., or alternating who hosts the birthday celebration each year.
• Parents' birthdays: Some plans allow a few hours of parenting time on a parent's birthday if it falls during the other parent's time.
• School teacher workdays and early release days: Follow the regular schedule unless specified otherwise.
• Three-day weekends: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day. Some plans treat these as part of the regular weekend rotation; others assign them specifically.

The Day-Count Impact

Holiday and summer allocations directly affect annual parenting-day totals, which in turn affect child support calculations. An ARP who gets four weeks of summer plus alternating major holidays may push past the 92-day threshold that triggers a parenting time credit, reducing their monthly support obligation.

Count holiday days carefully when building your plan. A plan that looks like a standard every-other-weekend arrangement during the school year can reach 100+ ARP days once summer, holidays, and school breaks are added.

Making the Plan Work

The best holiday schedule is the one both parents can follow without calling a lawyer. Be specific: exact dates, exact times, exact exchange locations. "Reasonable" is not a time. "The holidays" is not a schedule.

The Tennessee Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide includes a holiday planning worksheet that walks through each holiday, calculates the impact on annual parenting-day totals, and helps structure a rotation that works for your family's specific schedule.

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