Standard Possession Order May Produce Four Weekends in a Row for Fathers

It is difficult to navigate the Standard Possession Order weekends.  Most standard possession orders start weekends on Fridays, so you count Fridays to know whether it is a 1^st or 2^nd weekend.  In other words, if the first lands on a Saturday that weekend is the last weekend of the previous month because the Friday, not the Saturday, determines which weekend it is. 

Sometimes this produces unusual results.  You may have already figured out that the parent that has 1^st, 3^rd and 5^th weekends can end up with back-to-back weekends when the 5^th weekends is immediately followed by the 1^st weekend.   

Also, you may also have realized that Mother’s Day is always the second Sunday of May which usually makes it occur on the second weekend, but not always.  And you may also have realized that Father’s Day  is the third Sunday in June which is usually about the third weekend in June, but not always.  This would typically mean that mother gets the second weekend in May, which if that is already her weekend, doesn’t make any difference in the schedule.  Likewise, if father gets the third weekend in June and Father’s Day is usually on the third weekend, then it doesn’t affect the normal weekend scheduling either.  But what happens when the second Sunday in May is the third weekend or the third Sunday in June is actually only the second weekend in June??? 

We are getting ready to experience just such a scenario with Father’s Day this year, but it is also compounded by back-to-back weekends due to a 5^th weekend in May.  So, if a father normally gets the 1^st, 3^rd and 5^th weekends he will have the 5^th weekend in May, the 1^st weekend in June, Father’s Day which is the 2^nd weekend in June, AND the 3^rd weekend in June.   You can expect that many parents will be surprised at this anomaly. 

If you are having trouble figuring out whose weekend in what consult my website as we have the calendar of 1^st, 3^rd and 5^th weekends posted and you can download them to use.  You will also need to add the holidays and any extended summer possession to the schedule in order to have a complete calendar of the possession order.  Holidays vary widely in standard possession orders so we do not include them on the standard calendar. 

I am happy to help you understand your possession order and answer any questions you may have about your possession order.   If you have a particularly complicated possession order or just want me to develop a calendar for you of your possession schedule I can help you with that.   If you need a modification to change the possession order or an enforcement to enforce the order you already have, I am happy to help you with that too.