How Should Co-Parents Split a Holiday Custody Schedule in NYC?

A holiday custody schedule in NYC sets out which parent has the children for each holiday and school break, and it overrides the regular weekly schedule on those days. Most New York City parents alternate major holidays by year, split the day itself, or assign fixed holidays, then write the exact times into the parenting plan.

Cedeño Law Group, PLLC handles custody and parenting time matters in New York Supreme Court and New York Family Court across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Principal Peter Cedeño and our NYC child custody attorneys draft holiday schedules, negotiate changes, and enforce orders when a parent withholds holiday time. Holiday terms are one of the most frequent sources of post-judgment conflict, usually because the original order was vague about dates, times, or travel. For more on parenting time disputes, visit our NYC child visitation lawyer page, or see the full range of matters on our NYC family law lawyer page.

If the holidays are approaching and your parenting plan is unclear or is not being followed, contact Cedeño Law Group to schedule a consultation.

What Are the Most Common Ways to Split a Holiday Custody Schedule?

Four structures cover most NYC holiday custody schedules: alternating holidays by odd and even years, splitting the holiday itself into morning and evening blocks, assigning fixed holidays to one parent every year, and sharing long school breaks in halves. Many parenting plans combine two or more of these approaches.

• Alternating by year: one parent has Thanksgiving in even-numbered years and the other parent has it in odd-numbered years. This is simple to follow and gives each parent the full holiday every other year.
• Splitting the day: one parent has the children from the morning until 3 p.m., and the other parent has them from 3 p.m. through the next morning. This works best when the parents live a short subway or car ride apart.
• Fixed holidays: one parent always has a holiday that matters more to their family or faith, and the other parent always has a different holiday. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are usually fixed this way.
• Halving long breaks: winter recess and spring recess are divided into two blocks, with the parents swapping which half they get each year.

No single structure is required by New York law. When parents cannot agree, a judge decides parenting time under the best interests of the child standard in Domestic Relations Law § 240 (in a divorce) or Family Court Act Article 6 (in a Family Court custody case). The judge may look at the children’s ages, travel time between homes, each family’s traditions, and how well the parents have handled exchanges in the past.

How Should Parents Handle Thanksgiving in NYC?

For the 2026 school year, NYC public schools are closed Thursday, November 26, and Friday, November 27, for Thanksgiving recess. Many New York City parenting plans run Thanksgiving from Wednesday after school through Sunday evening and alternate it by year, while others split Thursday itself so the children see both families.

The choice often turns on travel. If one parent’s family is in Westchester or Long Island and the other parent’s family is in Brooklyn, a split Thursday can mean the children spend the afternoon in traffic. A full Wednesday to Sunday block, alternated each year, avoids that problem and lets one parent travel out of the city.

Details to settle for Thanksgiving:

• Whether the holiday starts at school dismissal on Wednesday or at a set hour
• Whether the holiday ends Thursday night, Friday, or Sunday evening
• Whether the weekend parent’s regular time is replaced or picked up after the holiday
• Where the exchange happens, such as school, a home, or a neutral public location
• Whether early dismissal or parent-teacher conference days around the holiday shift pickup times

How Do NYC Parents Split Winter Recess, Christmas, and New Year’s?

For 2026, NYC public school winter recess runs from Thursday, December 24, 2026, through Friday, January 1, 2027, with classes resuming Monday, January 4. Parents commonly split recess into two halves, alternate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, or give one parent Christmas and the other New Year’s, rotating each year.

Because recess starts on Christmas Eve this year, the timing of the first exchange matters. A plan that splits recess at noon on December 28 gives one parent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the weekend, and gives the other parent the remaining days through New Year’s Day. Next year, the parents swap halves.

Common winter recess structures in New York City parenting plans include:

• Christmas Eve and Christmas Day split: one parent has Christmas Eve until 10 a.m. on Christmas Day, and the other parent has the rest of Christmas Day, alternating by year.
• Halves of recess: the first half and second half of winter recess, alternating by year, with Christmas and New Year’s falling in whichever half they land in.
• Christmas versus New Year’s: one parent has the Christmas block and the other has the New Year’s block, swapping each year.
• Full recess alternation: one parent has all of winter recess in alternating years, often used when a parent travels far to see family.

Private, parochial, and charter schools may follow a different calendar, so the plan should tie recess to the school the children actually attend rather than to the NYC public school calendar alone.

How Do You Fit Hanukkah, Eid, Lunar New Year, Diwali, and Other Holidays Into the Schedule?

Religious and cultural holidays can be assigned to the parent who observes them, shared on specific nights or days, or alternated like any other holiday. A NYC holiday custody schedule should name each holiday the family observes and state the exact hours, because dates on the Jewish, Islamic, lunar, and Hindu calendars change every year.

New York City families observe a wide range of holidays, and the school calendar reflects some of them. On the 2026 to 2027 NYC public school calendar, Lunar New Year falls during midwinter recess (February 15 through February 19, 2027), schools close for Eid al-Fitr on Tuesday, March 9, 2027, and spring recess (April 22 through April 30, 2027) includes Passover. Diwali falls on a weekend this school year.

Ways to handle holidays that move each year:

• Assign specific nights of Hanukkah, such as the first night and the fifth night, to each parent
• Give Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha to the observing parent from the evening before through the end of the day
• Give the Passover seders to one parent and the remaining days to the regular schedule, or alternate the first and second seder
• Give Lunar New Year Eve dinner and the first day to the parent whose family celebrates, with the other parent having time later in midwinter recess
• State that the holiday follows the official calendar for that year, so no one argues about the date

When the parents practice different faiths, a judge deciding the schedule may consider the children’s religious upbringing as one factor in the best interests analysis. Our guide on how New York courts decide a child’s best interests explains what judges weigh.

Does the Holiday Schedule Override the Regular Parenting Schedule?

In most NYC parenting plans, yes. The holiday schedule takes priority over the regular weekly schedule, and the regular schedule resumes after the holiday ends. The plan should say this expressly and should also state whether a parent loses or makes up a regular weekend that the holiday interrupts.

A typical priority order in New York City parenting plans is: Mother’s Day and Father’s Day first, then major holidays, then school breaks, then the regular weekly schedule. Without a stated order, parents may argue about whether a Monday holiday attached to a regular weekend belongs to the weekend parent or to the holiday parent.

Questions the plan should answer:

• Does a Monday holiday, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, extend the weekend parent’s time?
• If a holiday cancels a parent’s regular weekend, is that weekend made up later?
• After winter recess, does the regular schedule restart where it left off or start fresh on a set week?
• Do birthdays get their own time, and does that time override a holiday?

For a broader checklist, see what a New York parenting plan should include after divorce.

What Happens if the Custody Order Says Nothing About Holidays?

If a New York custody order is silent on holidays, the regular parenting schedule generally controls, even on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Parents can agree to a holiday arrangement in writing, but if they cannot agree, a parent can ask the court to modify or clarify the order to add a holiday schedule.

Silence in the order often leads to a predictable problem. The parent with the regular weekend that includes a holiday keeps the children, and the other parent has no court-ordered right to holiday time. A written agreement by text or email may help in the short term, but it is not a court order and can be hard to enforce.

Timing matters. Family Court and Supreme Court calendars in New York City are busy in November and December, and a petition filed the week before a holiday may not be heard in time. Parents who expect a holiday dispute are usually better served by raising it in September or October. If parents reach an agreement, our NYC custody lawyers can put it into a stipulation for the court to so-order, which turns the agreement into an enforceable order.

Can a Parent Travel Out of State or Abroad With the Children for the Holidays?

It depends on the custody order. Many NYC parenting plans allow holiday travel with advance notice and an itinerary, while some require written consent for out-of-state or international trips. For children under 16, the U.S. State Department generally requires both parents’ consent to issue a passport.

Under State Department rules, both parents or guardians must approve a passport for a child under 16, usually by appearing together or by the absent parent signing a notarized Statement of Consent (Form DS-3053). A court order granting sole custody, or an order specifically permitting one parent to travel with the child, can change what is required. Passport applications take time, so this should be handled well before a winter trip.

Travel terms to include in a holiday custody schedule:

• How many days of notice a parent must give before holiday travel
• What the itinerary must include: flights, addresses, and a phone number where the children can be reached
• Whether international travel requires written consent or a court order
• Who holds the children’s passports between trips
• Whether the children may call or video chat with the other parent during the trip

Concerns about a parent leaving the country with the children, especially to a country that is not a Hague Convention partner, should be raised with a custody lawyer early. Our guides on leaving the state with a child without a custody agreement and interstate child custody orders cover related questions.

What Should a Holiday Custody Schedule Include?

A workable holiday custody schedule lists every holiday and school break the family observes, gives exact start and end times, states the odd-year and even-year rotation, names exchange locations, sets travel and notice rules, and confirms that holidays override the regular schedule. Each term should be clear enough for a judge to tell whether it was followed.

Our NYC child custody attorneys draft holiday schedules with specific language because vague terms are hard to enforce later. A clause that says the parents will “share holidays fairly” gives a court very little to measure. A clause that says the mother has Thanksgiving from Wednesday at school dismissal until Sunday at 6 p.m. in even-numbered years gives the court something concrete.

A complete holiday schedule usually covers:

• Thanksgiving, winter recess, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day
• Religious and cultural holidays the family observes, with exact hours
• Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and each child’s and parent’s birthday
• Monday holidays, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, and Labor Day
• Midwinter recess, spring recess, and summer vacation weeks
• Halloween and the Fourth of July, if either matters to the family
• Exchange times, locations, and who provides transportation
• A priority order when holidays overlap
• Travel notice, itinerary, and passport terms
• How changes are requested and confirmed in writing, such as through a co-parenting app

What Can You Do if the Other Parent Withholds Holiday Time?

When a parent withholds court-ordered holiday time, the other parent can file a violation petition in Family Court or a motion in Supreme Court. New York courts require clear and convincing proof that the order had a clear mandate, the parent knew of it, the violation was willful, and it prejudiced the other parent’s rights.

That standard comes from New York appellate decisions in custody violation cases, and it is the main reason specific holiday language matters. If the order gives exact dates and times, a missed exchange is easier to prove. If the order is vague, the other parent may argue there was nothing clear to violate.

Steps that help when holiday time is withheld:

• Stay calm at the exchange location and avoid confrontations in front of the children.
• Send a short written message confirming you were present at the scheduled time and place.
• Keep copies of all texts, emails, and co-parenting app messages about the holiday.
• Write down what happened, including dates, times, and any witnesses.
• Talk with a New York City custody lawyer about whether a violation petition, emergency application, make-up time request, or modification fits the situation.

When a violation is proven, New York courts have several options, including ordering make-up parenting time, clarifying or tightening the order, and, under Judiciary Law § 753, civil contempt. A pattern of withheld time can also support a request to modify the parenting schedule. What a judge does depends on the record, which is why our NYC child custody attorneys focus on documentation from the first missed exchange. For more, see our guide on enforcing visitation when the other parent refuses and our tips for a healthy custody exchange.

How Do Our NYC Child Custody Attorneys Handle Holiday Parenting Time Disputes?

Our NYC child custody attorneys treat holiday parenting time as part of the full custody case, from early strategy through drafting, court appearances, settlement, trial, and post-judgment enforcement or modification. Each stage is built around specific schedule language and a clear record that a judge can apply.

• Pre-filing strategy and evidence preservation: reviewing the current order, school calendars, work schedules, travel plans, and past holiday communications, and preserving texts, emails, and app records.
• Temporary relief: seeking temporary holiday parenting time terms while a divorce or Family Court case is pending, filed early enough to be heard before the holiday.
• Discovery and outside professionals: gathering records and working with forensic custody evaluators or parent coordinators when the court involves them.
• Negotiation and settlement conferences: drafting a holiday schedule with exact dates, times, rotations, exchange locations, and travel terms.
• Trial: presenting testimony and documents on what holiday arrangement serves the children’s best interests.
• Post-judgment and appeal: filing or defending violation petitions, seeking make-up time or modification, and evaluating appeal options.

Our New York City custody lawyers draft every holiday term as though a judge may one day read it line by line. Settlement on the right terms is welcome. A vague schedule that sets up the same fight every December is not.

Contact Our NYC Child Custody Attorneys

Whether you need a holiday custody schedule added to your parenting plan, clarified before Thanksgiving or winter recess, or enforced against a co-parent who keeps withholding time, our NYC child custody attorneys can review your order and your options. Contact Cedeño Law Group to schedule a consultation.

Sources

• NYC Public Schools, 2026 to 2027 School Year Calendar
• U.S. Department of State, Apply for a Child’s Passport Under 16
• New York State Senate, Domestic Relations Law § 240