10/13/2026
Good morning, friends!
I wanted to stop in today and talk about the holidays. Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner, and for a lot of families, that means figuring out how to share the most important days of the year under a custody or timesharing order. If you were hoping to change your order before the holidays and haven’t started that process yet, the reality is that court dockets fill up fast this time of year, and a contested change probably won’t be heard in time. But that doesn’t mean the holidays have to be a battle. With a little planning, most families can get through the season under the order they already have.
A few things that come up again and again:
Read your order now. Many orders have a holiday schedule that overrides the regular weekly schedule, and many alternate holidays between even and odd years. Check who has which holiday this year, when exchanges happen, and who handles transportation, before plans get made around the wrong assumption.
Communicate early and in writing. If you and the other parent want to swap days or adjust exchange times, talk about it now, not the night before. Put any agreement in a text or email so there’s no confusion later about what was decided.
Keep the kids out of it. Children shouldn’t have to carry messages between parents or feel like they have to choose where to spend the holiday. Let them enjoy the time they have with each parent.
Don’t take matters into your own hands. If the other parent isn’t following the order, keeping a child past their time usually makes things worse, not better. Document what happened and talk to an attorney about your options, which may include asking the court to enforce the order.
There is one important exception to the timing issue: if a child’s safety is at genuine risk, emergency relief may still be available. If that’s your situation, don’t wait.
Otherwise, if your current order just isn’t working for your family, the start of the new year is a great time to get the ball rolling on a change. That’s exactly the kind of situation my office helps clients with. I’m here to help. Have a good week!