In Texas, when parties have a Standard Possession schedule, their visitation usually follows a normal schedule. Those schedules are detailed in Texas Family Code 153.312.
In a Standard Possession Schedule, the Non-Primary parent will have the 1st, 3rd, and 5th weekends of the month. When does a “weekend” start? The Family Code specifies that weekends start on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Fridays at either school dismissal or 6:00pm. Both options are available under the code and so it is important for parents to check their specific court orders for what time was selected in their case.
Weekends “end” on the Sunday night at 6:00pm (or when school resumes on Monday morning) after the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Fridays. Both options are available under the code and so you should check your court orders for which ending time was selected for your case.
View a month calendar and follow the Fridays down to count the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Fridays of each month. That means that for weekends like Friday, Jan 31, 2025, that Friday is technically the 5th Friday in January, so a parent would get Friday, Jan 31, 2025, and return the child(red) on Sunday, February 2, 2025. That also means that the following Friday, Feb 7, 2025, is now the 1st Friday in February. So a non-primary parent would have the child(ren) two weekends in a row.
There is always confusion when a month has that rare 5th Friday and so the non-custodial/non-primary parent has two weekends in a row. It’s important to remember that you follow the Fridays of the month, not the full weekends. 1st Friday, 2nd Friday, and 5th Fridays are how to calculate weekends in a Texas Standard Possession Schedule.