A Brief Introduction to Ohio Child Visitation Guidelines
Visitation agreements are eventually decided by your county’s family court, and these agreements are tailor-made by the courts for each family’s specific needs. There’s no such thing as standard Ohio child visitation guidelines, nor no use for them in a strict sense given how important it is to make specific requirements for each family. However, by looking over a series of Ohio child visitation guidelines from a number of different family courts, a general sense of Ohio child visitation guidelines can be achieved, and can be useful in judging your own visitation agreement.
Ohio Child Visitation Guidelines, Normal Scenarios
These are Ohio child visitation guidelines for normal scenarios in which both parents are fit and able to parent, living in close proximity to each other.
• Infants up to six months: Two regular visits a week with one falling on the weekend. Both visits last about three hours. These Ohio child visitation guidelines are on the low-side of the national average, so do not be surprised if your visitation agreement includes three weekly visits instead of two.
• From six months to one year: The Saturday visit may be gradually increased in duration, eventually resulting in a twelve-hour visit each Friday.
• From one year to eighteen months: Starting with January, for each odd numbered month the non-custodial parent shall receive three weekends of visitation, where visitation begins at 8:00 A.M. on Saturday and ends at 6:00 P.M. on Sunday. The following month, an even month, the non-custodial parent will only be awarded two weekends a month. And so on. In addition, every Wednesday from 5:30 P.M. until 8:30 P.M. custody is awarded to the non-custodial parent.
• After eighteen months: A similar alternating weekend schedule will be devised as in the above, with odd-numbered months having three weekends granted to the non-custodial parent and with even-numbered months only granting two. However, these weekend visits shall begin at 6:00 P.M. on Friday and end at 6:00 P.M. on Sunday. In addition, regular Wednesday visits from 5:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. shall be continued.
Ohio Child Visitation Guidelines for Holidays
The different holidays should be divided among the two parents according to Ohio child visitation guidelines. In odd-numbered years, the non-custodial parent will have Memorials Day Weekend and Christmas, from 2:00 P.M. on the 25th until 6:00 P.M. on January 1st. In even-numbered years, Easter, the Fourth of July, Halloween, and Thanksgiving are afforded to the non-custodial parent, as well as that portion of Christmas break that falls before the actual day of Christmas. In addition, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day should each be spent with the parent of the appropriate gender. For holidays for children under eighteen months, it is advised by the Ohio child visitation guidelines that the non-custodial spent that period of time from 3:00 P.M. until 6:00 P.M. with their child.
