West Virginia Custody Schedules (Visitation)

A custody schedule is an essential part of any custody arrangement. It lets you know when the child should be with either parent.

Parents may agree on a parenting time schedule and include it in their joint parenting plan. If they cannot agree, a judge will decide based on each parent's individual parenting plan proposal and the child's best interests.

How you share parenting time can impact how much child support you pay or receive.

Choosing a schedule

Consider the following when choosing a schedule:

• Your child's age and needs
• Your child's school and activity schedule
• Each parent's availability
• How far apart you and the other parent live from one another

You'll also want to consider whether you'll allow others like grandparents regular visits.

The court may order supervised visits if it finds that it's necessary for a third party to monitor a parent when the child is visiting. Supervised exchanges can be ordered if there are concerns about exposing the child to conflict or protecting the safety of a parent who has been abused by the other.

Scheduling options

Parents often choose a schedule based on how frequent custody exchanges will be. An exchange is when the child goes from one parent's custody to the other's.

Generally, younger children need more frequent exchanges to have the comfort of both parents, while older children prefer to be moved around less frequently due to their school and extracurricular schedules and social lives.

Your schedule should reflect the type of custody you're agreeing to or proposing.

Equal parenting time (shared custody)

West Virginia courts lean toward equal parenting time, so long as it is in the child's best interests and both parents are capable of following the schedule.

The numbers in the schedules below represent how many days the child is in one parent's custody before switching homes.

The 2-3-3-2 schedule has frequent exchanges.

You can customize this to fit your situation with Custody X Change.

The 3-4-4-3 schedule allows the child to stay with one parent for slightly longer periods.

You can customize this to fit your situation with Custody X Change.

The 5-2-2-5 schedule lets your child stay in one parent's home for the majority of the week.

You can customize this to fit your situation with Custody X Change.

The alternating weeks schedule is suited for families with busy schedules since it has only one weekly exchange.

You can customize this to fit your situation with Custody X Change.

Unequal parenting time (visitation)

In some cases, the court may order (or parents may agree to give) one parent visitation rather than significant parenting time.

This could happen if the parent (called the noncustodial parent) has not played an active role in the child's life thus far, lives long-distance from the child or is not fit to have more parenting time.

In these situations, the alternating weekends schedule is most common.

You can customize this to fit your situation with Custody X Change.

Parents often add a dinner or overnight visit so the kids get to see the noncustodial parent every week. You can also start the weekend earlier.

You can customize this to fit your situation with Custody X Change.

If one parent lives a significantly long distance away, you might give them major holidays and all of summer.

You can customize this to fit your situation with Custody X Change.

Holidays and school breaks

For holidays, parents can split the day in half or switch who has the holiday every year.

You can customize this to fit your situation with Custody X Change.

If a holiday like West Virginia Day gives the child a long weekend, you could give it to one parent or split the time in half.

You can customize this to fit your situation with Custody X Change.

School breaks are a good time for vacations. You might spell out exactly which school break each parent will get or dole out a specific amount of vacation time for parents to use throughout the year.

You can customize this to fit your situation with Custody X Change.

The easiest way to make a schedule

If you're like most parents, creating a custody and visitation schedule will feel daunting. How do you write something that meets legal requirements and doesn't leave any loose ends?

The Custody X Change app makes it easy. Either customize a schedule template, or click and drag in your custody calendar to make a schedule from scratch.

You can customize this to fit your situation with Custody X Change.

Then watch a full description appear in your custom parenting plan.

You can customize this to fit your situation with Custody X Change.

The combination of a visual and written schedule means your family will have no problem knowing who has the child when. Take advantage of Custody X Change to make your schedule as clear and thorough as can be.