Utah Parent-time

Parent-time – Holidays

The Utah legislature established a default provision for time sharing over the holidays.  The arrangement is based on one party being designated as the “custodial parent” and one party as the “non-custodial parent.”  This is the case even if the parties are sharing joint physical custody.  The holiday parent time is found in Utah Code §30-3-35 for children over the age of 5 years and Utah Code §30-3-35.5 for children under the age of five years.  The following schedule applies to the non-custodial parent for children over 5 years of age:

Odd Number Years	Even Number Years
Child's Birthday on the day before or after the actual birthdate beginning at 3 p.m. until 9 p.m.	Child's Birthday on actual birthdate beginning at 3 p.m. until 9 p.m.
Martin Luther King, Jr. beginning 6 p.m. on Friday until Monday at 7 p.m. unless the holiday extends for a lengthier period of time to which the noncustodial parent is completely entitled;	President's Day beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday until 7 p.m. on Monday unless the holiday extends for a lengthier period of time to which the noncustodial parent is completely entitled;
Spring Break beginning at 6 p.m. on the day school lets out for the holiday until 7 p.m. on the Sunday before school resumes	Memorial Day beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday until Monday at 7 p.m., unless the holiday extends for a lengthier period of time to which the noncustodial parent is completely entitled
July 4 beginning 6 p.m. the day before the holiday until 11 p.m. or no later than 6 p.m. on the day following the holiday, at the option of the parent exercising the holiday	July 24 beginning at 6 p.m. on the day before the holiday until 11 p.m. or no later than 6 p.m. on the day following the holiday, at the option of the parent exercising the holiday
Labor Day beginning 6 p.m. on Friday until Monday at 7 p.m., unless the holiday extends for a lengthier period of time to which the noncustodial parent is completely entitled	Columbus Day beginning at 6 p.m. the day before the holiday until 7 p.m. on the holiday
Fall School Break, if applicable, commonly known as U.E.A. weekend beginning at 6 p.m. on Wednesday until Sunday at 7 p.m. unless the holiday extends for a lengthier period of time to which the noncustodial parent is completely entitled	Halloween October 31 or the day Halloween is traditionally celebrated in the local community from after school until 9 p.m. if on a school day, or from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m.
Veteran's Day beginning 6 p.m. the day before the holiday until 7 p.m. on the holiday.	Thanksgiving beginning Wednesday at 7 p.m. until Sunday at 7 p.m.
Christmas Break the first portion including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, continuing until 1 p.m. on the day halfway through the holiday period, if there are an odd number of days for the holiday period, or until 7 p.m. if there are an even number of days for the holiday period, so long as the entire holiday period is equally divided.	Christmas Break the second portion of the Christmas school vacation as defined in Subsection 30-3-32(3)(b), beginning 1 p.m. on the day halfway through the holiday period, if there are an odd number of days for the holiday period, or at 7 p.m. if there are an even number of days for the holiday period, so long as the entire Christmas holiday period is equally divided.

            Father’s Day is spent with the father from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Mother’s Day is spent with the mother from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.  

            Finally, during the summer the non-custodial parent has up to four consecutive weeks at his/her option (but not holidays) with two weeks being uninterrupted time and the other two weeks subject to parent-time for the custodial parent for weekday parent-time.  The custodial parent also gets an identical two-week period of uninterrupted time.