I hope everyone had an enjoyable Halloween. November is here and it is a busy month when it comes to standard visitation in Texas. We’ll start with the simple and move to the more complex:
The standard weekends this month are Friday the 5th and Friday the 19th (maybe, see below). The Thursday (or Wednesday if you have an old order) possession will continue this month with the exception of Thanksgiving week. It is the custodial parent’s Thanksgiving this year.
Now the difficult part. Each school district exercises the Thanksgiving holiday differently. Let’s first address the language in most orders. Standard orders read like this:
“the possessory conservator shall have possession of the child in odd-numbered years, beginning at 6:00 p.m. on the day the child is dismissed from school before Thanksgiving and ending at 6:00 p.m. on the following Sunday, and the managing conservator shall have possession for the same period in even-numbered years.”
If yours is a school district that dismisses school on the Tuesday or Wednesday before the holiday, then you will have the weekend of the 19th as a standard weekend visitation.
If your school district dismisses for the entire week then we have to look a little deeper. Some schools dismiss on Wednesday, but have an inservice day on Monday and Tuesday (see the DISD Calendar). That means that the child is out for the entire week. If that is the case, when is the child “dismissed from school before the Thanksgiving holiday”? This year the non-custodial parent would argue that it starts on Wednesday the 24th so they could have their weekend (extended by the Monday inservice day), while the custodial parent would argue that is starts on Friday the 19th so that they get that weekend as well as the holiday.
My first response is always that the parties should reach agreements on these types of issues. However, I know that is not always possible. So what is the answer?
I don’t know! I think it depends on the wording on the school calendar. In looking at the DISD Calendar I think the argument could be made both ways. The custodial parent would argue that the whole week is designated a holiday and therefore it would begin the preceding Friday. The non-custodial parent would argue that the calendar makes a clear delineation between the Thanksgiving holiday and the two inservice days. By color coding them differently, the parent would argue that the Thanksgiving holiday does not start until the black highlighted section begins on the 24th and that the two white highlighted sections are inservice days extending their weekend per the standard order.
By contrast, look at the calendar for Grapevine ISD. Theirs is highlighted the same throughout the week. I think the custodial parent has the best argument here as it looks like the whole week is the Thanksgiving holiday.
Hopefully your school district makes it easy for you by letting out on Wednesday with no inservice days. That is cut and dry. If you are one of the unfortunate that have it the other way, be reasonable on both sides and save yourself a lot of grief.
Tags: Children, Divorce, holiday, Visitation
Wow, this almost gives me a headache! I had to read this through a few times before I understood it! I remember having nitpick issues like this with my stepson’s mom…via certified mail! Thank goodness we don’t have to do that anymore! If you have any other readers in the greater Austin area, none of the school districts around here have the whole week off; they all have Wednesday through Friday off.
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