Thanksgiving Custody Schedule: 5 Ways Co-Parents Split the Holiday

A Thanksgiving custody schedule comes down to three decisions: the rule (alternate years, split the day, split Thursday from the weekend, the same parent every year, or just follow the regular schedule), which parent has which year, and which days count as Thanksgiving. The court defaults checked here (Texas, Indiana, Wayne County in Michigan) all alternate by year, yet disagree on when the holiday starts and who gets even years, so "we alternate" settles very little.

Thanksgiving 2026 is Thursday, November 26. Below: the five rules, what to write down for each, and whose year it is through 2030.

General information, not legal advice; CoParentSplit was made by a Montreal dad, not a lawyer. If you have a court order, it wins.

Five ways to split Thanksgiving

1. Alternate years

One parent has Thanksgiving in even-numbered years, the other in odd-numbered years. Each side of the family gets the kids every other year, and nobody negotiates in November.

Texas writes this into its standard possession order. Under Family Code § 153.314, the possessory conservator has the children in odd-numbered years, "beginning at 6 p.m. on the day the child is dismissed from school before Thanksgiving and ending at 6 p.m. on the following Sunday," and the managing conservator has the same period in even-numbered years. Indiana's Parenting Time Guidelines also alternate, but the other way round: the noncustodial parent has Thanksgiving in even-numbered years. (In Texas the managing conservator is usually the parent the kids mainly live with; our Texas guide covers the expense side there.)

Write down: a name next to each year type. "Even years: Dad. Odd years: Mom." Then the start and end times (see "Which days count" below).

2. Split the day

One parent has the morning and early afternoon, the other the evening meal, so the kids see both parents on the day. Wayne County's default plan uses a version of this for babies: when the oldest child is under 1, the noncustodial parent gets Thanksgiving Day only, 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. For older children the whole weekend alternates by year.

It works when the homes are a short drive apart and the meals aren't at the same hour. With a flight, a long drive or two dinners at once, the kids spend the holiday in the back seat.

Write down: the handover time, the place, who drives, and whether the halves swap next year.

3. Thursday to one parent, the weekend to the other

One parent has Thanksgiving Day, the other Friday through Sunday, often swapping each year. It suits families where one side eats on Thursday and the other gathers later in the weekend. California's court form, FL-341(C), is built for it: "Thanksgiving Day" and "Thanksgiving weekend" are separate rows, each with its own parent, years and start and end times.

Write down: when Thursday ends (after dinner, or Friday morning) and whether the halves alternate.

4. The same parent every year

One parent always has Thanksgiving; the other always has another holiday, such as Christmas Eve. Families pick this when one side has a fixed tradition, or when the homes are far apart. Justice Canada's checklist treats it as a standard option: "Will your children spend certain holidays with one parent every year?"

Write down: what the other parent gets in exchange, so the trade still makes sense years from now.

5. Follow the regular schedule

No holiday rule: whoever has the kids that week has Thanksgiving. Nothing to negotiate, but with a two-week rotation the calendar decides lopsidedly.

Thanksgiving is always a Thursday, so each one falls a whole number of weeks after the last. When the date moves back a day or two, as every year from 2026 (November 26) to 2029 (November 22), an even number of weeks has passed, and a two-week rotation (week on/week off, every other weekend) lands on the same parent. Only when the date jumps forward, as in 2030 (November 28), does it flip. If the rotation never resets, whoever has Thanksgiving 2026 also has 2027, 2028 and 2029.

Write down: that you chose this on purpose, after checking the table below.

Which rule fits

Without a strong reason for another rule, start from alternate years with names next to the years. Avoid rule 5 on a two-week rotation: one parent can miss four Thanksgivings in a row.

Which days count as Thanksgiving?

Who has the holiday is one decision. How long it lasts is another, and the court defaults don't agree on it:

Texas also lets a parent elect to start at "the time the child's school is dismissed for the holiday" (§ 153.317). Either way the Texas start moves with the school calendar, so check your district's release day instead of assuming Wednesday.

So the choice is Thursday only, Wednesday evening to Sunday evening, or from the day school lets out. The Maryland Judiciary's parenting-plan tips put it simply: does a holiday "begin the evening before or the morning of?"

Write down: start and end as days and clock times, and who drives at each end.

Whose year is it? Thanksgiving 2026–2030

The dates come from OPM's federal holiday table and follow the federal rule that Thanksgiving is "the fourth Thursday in November."

Read the Texas and Indiana columns side by side. Both defaults alternate, and in every year they give Thanksgiving to opposite sides. "Odd years" in a plan means nothing until a parent's name is attached to it.

When Thanksgiving lands on the other parent's weekend

All four court schedules checked put the holiday first. Texas holiday periods "supersede conflicting weekend or Thursday periods of possession"; Indiana's holiday schedule takes precedence over regular parenting time; California's form gives it priority "unless specifically ordered." Wayne County's plan does the same and names the side effect: holiday time "may result in one parent having two or more weekends in a row."

Check your own order, then settle in writing whether the regular schedule simply resumes or the parent who lost a weekend gets one back, and if so, which one.

If you're in Canada

Canadian Thanksgiving was Monday, October 12, 2026, so this year's is behind you, but the choices are the same. Saskatchewan's parenting plan workbook gives Thanksgiving Day boxes for odd years, even years or every year, and Manitoba's checklist lists it among the holidays to plan for. Because it falls on a Monday, also write down whether it means the Monday alone or the whole long weekend.

Put the rule where both of you can see it

A rule in a court PDF or an old text thread gets remembered two ways. In CoParentSplit you set Thanksgiving once, under Schedule → Holidays: Alternates (it switches every year; you pick who has it this year), always one parent, or off, and the days as Thursday only, Thursday to Sunday, or Wednesday to Sunday. The holiday set goes to your co-parent to approve; in solo mode it applies when you save. The calendar then shows who has it, for example "Thanksgiving · Jordan," and the same rules feed the calendar subscription (.ics). Holidays win over the weekly schedule, as in the court defaults above. Christmas, Easter, school breaks and birthdays work the same way.

The custody calendar is a Premium feature; the app is free to start, and new families get 14 days of Premium. If your order already spells out every date and you both follow it, a shared paper calendar does the same job.

The schedule decides where the kids are. Who pays for the flight or the holiday meal is a separate conversation, and our post on splitting holiday expenses between two households covers it. CoParentSplit's founder, a Montreal dad of three, keeps one rule for that conversation: never discuss money at the handoff, because the kids hear everything.

Frequently asked questions

Who gets the kids on Thanksgiving if our custody order doesn't mention it? If your order has no holiday section, nothing in it moves Thanksgiving, so the regular weekly schedule usually decides. You can still agree on a holiday rule together and put it in writing. If you can't agree, ask a family lawyer or your court how to add a holiday schedule to your order well before November.

Can we change the Thanksgiving schedule for just one year? Usually, if you both agree. Wayne County's default plan in Michigan says plainly that the parents may both agree to change it. Put the swap in writing with dates and times, and say whether next year goes back to the normal rotation. In CoParentSplit, an approved one-off change overrides the holiday rule on those dates.

How early should co-parents confirm Thanksgiving plans? The court defaults quoted here don't set a confirmation deadline, but Justice Canada's parenting-plan checklist asks parents to decide how much notice changes need. Pick a date in your plan, such as the first day of school, by which Thanksgiving travel and handover times are confirmed in writing. Then neither of you books flights on a guess.

Does a Thanksgiving custody schedule say who pays for travel? Not unless your order says so. A holiday schedule decides where the children are and when they change homes; flights, gas and the holiday meal are a separate decision. Agree on them before anyone books, write the split down next to the schedule, and log each cost the same day so nobody rebuilds November from memory.

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Set Thanksgiving, Christmas and the school breaks once, and let both calendars show whose turn it is every year: see how the custody calendar works on the CoParentSplit expense tracker page.