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Utah Child Visitation Guidelines


A Brief Introduction to Utah Child Visitation Guidelines

Utah child visitation guidelines are designed to help parents who are separating do what is best for their child by establishing a regular scenario for child visitation in the state. Of course, no two families are alike, and child visitation schedules should be formatted exactly to the needs of your own, regardless of what any Utah child visitation guidelines might say. Yet it still may help to familiarize yourself with the Utah child visitation guidelines so that you’ll know going into negotiations what a traditional agreement looks like and whether or not your deal is living up to those standards.

Children too young for school, that is to say under five, don’t have Utah child visitation guidelines which apply to them. The court, however, generally agrees that for these children short frequent visits boosts familiarity with the parent and sets up strong lifelong relationships. Therefore, the parent of an infant should visit their child frequently, at least three times a week, with visits of two or three hours. As the child grows older, the visits may grow longer, especially the one held on a weekend day, which may eventually go for eight hours or more.

These all-day visits set up the child for the typical schedule for kids five and up according to the Utah child visitation guidelines. According to the guidelines, a non-custodial parent should be normally guaranteed of three types of visits. The first is a weekday visit, which occurs every week, from 5:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. or, if the parents agree, from the time the child leaves school until 8:30 p.m. The second type of visit is the weekend visit, occurring every other weekend from 6:00 p.m. Friday until 7 p.m. Sunday. The final type of visit is the holiday visit, which takes precedence over the other two types of visits.

Holidays are the most complicated type of visitation since they require the dividing of days and the appropriation of certain holidays to one of the parents. The Utah child visitation guidelines advise the alternating of which parents gets which holidays according to the even-year, odd-year system. Here is the division advised for odd years:

• The non-custodial parent has the child for either the day before or after their birthday from 3 p.m. until 9 p.m., Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend from Friday until Monday at 7 p.m., spring break from 6 p.m. on the last day of school until 7 p.m. on the day before school starts, Memorial day weekend from 6 p.m. on Friday until Monday at 7 p.m., Pioneer Day from 6 p.m. the day before the holiday until 11 p.m. on the holiday, and the first half of Christmas vacation until 1 p.m. Christmas day, assuming that this evenly divides the vacation.

• The custodial parent is entitled to spend the child’s actual calendar birthday with the child, as well as President’s Day weekend starting at 6 p.m. Friday until 7 p.m. Monday, the Fourth of July beginning at 6 p.m. the day before the holiday and until 11 p.m. on the fourth, Labor day beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday until 7 p.m. Monday, any fall break, Columbus Day beginning at 6 p.m. the day before the holiday until 7 p.m. on the holiday, Thanksgiving beginning on Wednesday at 7 p.m. until Sunday at 7 p.m., and the second half of the Christmas vacation.

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