It is August and time to discuss important upcoming dates in the Texas summer standard possession order.  Before we begin however, I need to address an issue that arose in July at the end of the extended summer period of possession.

There was an anomaly this year where the 31st of July fell on a Saturday in a fifth weekend.  I have looked forward on my calendar and do not see this situation arising again anytime in the near future.  As a brief refresher, the parent with visitation get their standard first, third and fifth weekends during a Texas summer.  However, those summer weekend periods are trumped by the default 30 day extended summer visitation from July 1st through July 31st.  So what happens when the 31st of July falls on a Saturday in a fifth weekend?

I don’t know.  That is the simple answer.  I am of the opinion that there are no weekend visits in the month of July because they are overwritten by the extended summer possession.  Since the fifth weekend begins on Friday, July 30th, it is overwritten or erased from the board as it is within the extended Texas summer possession.  Otherwise, where does it state in a standard possession order when the visitation starts on a Saturday?  There is no continuity or logical flow of the order as with all the other sections of the standard possession order.

For instance, in July 2015, the 31st of July falls on a fifth Friday of the month.  The extended Texas summer visitation ends at 6:00 p.m. on that Friday and a weekend possession begins at 6:00 p.m. on a fifth Friday.  There is a logical flow to this and the fifth weekend would apply in this situation.

Now that I have stated my position, let me say that apparently I am in the minority on this issue.  Most attorneys feel that the weekend does apply since it is a fifth weekend, regardless of the day it begins.  So there you go…there is no good answer that I have seen.  Bottom line, just work it out with the other parent.  It is not worth the stress and hassle for an extra day of visitation.

Now, on to August.  Most likely Texas summer visitation is over (and it may have ended with a bang as seen above) and we are now looking at our standard weekends, the beginning of school, and the weekday visits beginning again.  The standard weekends are August 6th and August 20th (Fridays).

If your child’s school begins this month, you will begin exercising your weekday visitation which is typically Thursdays.  However, read your order because it may be another day.  If your child’s school begins on the 23rd of August, that will follow a third weekend of visitation.  It seems another issue may arise with the way these days fall.  If you return your child on Sundays during the summer but return them to school on Mondays following weekends during the school term, what do you do?

It seems to me that the reason you would return them on Sundays during the summer is because they are not in school and there is no place to return them on Monday.  However, if school is in session following your weekend you should be able to return them to school.  But, when the weekend began it was still summer!  I don’t have the answer to this, and my argument here may be in conflict with my argument above for July.  Who knows!  Just work it out with the other parent.  It is not a big deal.

That is it for August.  Enjoy the rest of your blistering Texas summer!