Quick answer: In Georgia, holiday parenting time is set by the parenting plan in your custody order, not by tradition or by whichever parent asks first. Georgia law requires parenting plans to address holidays and school breaks, and most plans alternate major holidays by year or split long breaks in half. The holiday schedule usually overrides the regular weekly schedule. If the other parent will not follow it, the order can be enforced through contempt.
The weeks from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day put more strain on co-parents than any other stretch of the year. Travel plans, extended family and school calendars all collide, and small gaps in a parenting plan turn into arguments. Knowing what your order actually says, and what Georgia law requires, heads off most of those fights.
What Georgia Law Requires in a Parenting Plan
Whenever custody is at issue between parents, Georgia requires a written parenting plan under O.C.G.A. § 19-9-1. The plan has to set out where the child lives day to day and how the child’s time is divided for holidays, birthdays, vacations and school breaks. Parents can agree on a plan together, or each parent can submit a proposed plan and the judge decides.
Once the judge signs the final order, the holiday schedule is a court order. It is not a suggestion, and neither parent can change it on their own.
Common Ways Georgia Plans Split the Holidays
There is no single required schedule. The plans we see most often in Columbus and Muscogee County use one of these approaches:
- Alternating years. One parent has Thanksgiving in even-numbered years and the other has it in odd-numbered years. Christmas often alternates the opposite way so each parent gets one major holiday every year.
- Splitting the day. Christmas Eve through noon on Christmas Day with one parent, and noon Christmas Day onward with the other, switching each year. This works well when parents live close together.
- Splitting the break. The winter school break is divided into two halves, with the parents alternating which half they get. Families who travel to see relatives often prefer this.
- Fixed holidays. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day usually go to the matching parent every year, and a child’s birthday is often shared or alternated.
Most plans also say the holiday schedule takes priority over the regular weekly or every-other-weekend schedule. If yours does not say so, read the definitions closely: when a holiday “begins” and “ends” (for example, from the day school lets out at 6 p.m.) is where most disputes start.
What to Do If the Other Parent Won’t Follow the Holiday Schedule
If a parent keeps the child past the exchange time or refuses to hand the child over, stay calm and do not escalate in front of the child. Then:
- Reread the exact language of your order so you know what it requires.
- Put your request in writing (text or email) and keep a copy.
- Write down dates, times and what happened at each missed exchange.
- Talk to a lawyer about filing a contempt motion. A judge can order make-up time, attorney’s fees and other remedies when a parent willfully violates a custody order.
Withholding child support because the other parent denied holiday time is not allowed. Support and parenting time are enforced separately, and withholding one to punish the other can put you in contempt too.
Can We Change the Holiday Schedule?
Parents can agree to trade a holiday for a given year, and many do. Put any trade in writing so there is no confusion later. A written agreement between parents is not the same as a court order, though, so a permanent change should be made through the court.
Under O.C.G.A. § 19-9-3(b), the court can review the visitation and parenting time portion of an order once in each two-year period after the judgment without either parent having to prove a material change in circumstances. A bigger change, such as a change in physical custody, requires showing a material change affecting the child. Our guide to post-decree modifications covers that process.
Holidays for Military Families at Fort Benning
Military schedules rarely line up with a school calendar. Georgia’s parenting plan statute requires plans involving a military parent to address how the child transitions to the other parent during a deployment, how the child stays in contact with a deployed parent, and how a deployed parent’s parenting time may be delegated to extended family. A well-drafted plan can let grandparents exercise a deployed parent’s holiday time so the child keeps those family ties. If orders or a PCS move change the picture, see our guide to relocation and PCS custody issues.
Plan Ahead
Court calendars fill up before the holidays. If you need a judge to clarify an unclear schedule or enforce an order before Thanksgiving or the winter break, start early. Waiting until the week before usually means the dispute is not heard until after the holiday has passed.
Talk With Scot Sikes
If your holiday schedule is unclear, is not being followed, or no longer fits your family, Scot Sikes can review your parenting plan and explain your options before the next break arrives. Consultations with Scot Sikes are $200. Call 706-494-6900 or send the office a message to schedule.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who gets the kids on Christmas in Georgia?
Whoever your parenting plan says. Georgia has no default holiday rule; the court order controls. Many plans alternate Christmas by odd and even years or split Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Does the holiday schedule override the regular schedule?
In most Georgia parenting plans, yes. The plan usually says holiday time takes priority over regular weekly or weekend time. Check the exact wording of your order.
Can I take my child out of state for the holidays?
It depends on your parenting plan. Many plans allow travel during your own parenting time but require notice and an itinerary for out-of-state trips. Follow any notice requirement in your order.
What can I do if my ex keeps my child over my holiday?
Document what happened, request the child’s return in writing, and talk to a lawyer about a contempt motion. A judge can order make-up parenting time and attorney’s fees for willful violations.
Keep Reading
- Custody and parenting plans in Georgia
- Child visitation in Columbus, GA
- Enforcing custody orders through contempt
- Changing a custody or support order
- Relocation, PCS orders and custody
- Child custody lawyer in Columbus, GA
About the author. Scot Sikes founded the Law Offices of Scot Sikes in Columbus, Georgia, in 2006. He earned his J.D. at Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law, was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 1999, and served as an Army judge advocate (trial counsel, Senior Defense Counsel and Deputy Staff Judge Advocate) before retiring from the U.S. Army Reserve as a lieutenant colonel in 2017. His practice centers on family law, military divorce and military family law in the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit, and courts have qualified him as an expert witness on dividing military property in divorce. Read Scot Sikes’s full profile. Law Offices of Scot Sikes, 5 Bradley Park Court, Suite 101, Columbus, GA 31904 · 706-494-6900.
Last updated November 2026. Sources: O.C.G.A. § 19-9-1 (parenting plans, including holiday and military provisions); O.C.G.A. § 19-9-3(b) (review of visitation and parenting time). This article is general information about Georgia law, not legal advice for your situation.
Questions About Your Situation?
Call the Law Offices of Scot Sikes at 706-494-6900 or request a consultation.