2-2-5-5 Custody Schedule
A 2-2-5-5 custody schedule gives each parent the same two weeknights every week, and the weekends alternate and join onto them, so the nights run two, two, five and five. Both parents have seven of every fourteen nights, a 50/50 split, with four handovers a fortnight and at most five nights apart. Pick the start date and who goes first to get your calendar.
Overnight split
The rule, night by night
Two nights, two nights, five nights, five nights. Started on a Monday, one parent always has Monday and Tuesday and the other always Wednesday and Thursday; the weekend alternates and joins onto one side, making the five-night runs.
Repeats every 14 nights · AABBAAAAABBBBB
- Handovers
- 4 every 14 nights
- Longest run at one home
- 5 nights
In the 365 nights from Monday 28 September 2026: Parent A has 183 nights and Parent B has 182 nights.
Courts and parents decide what fits the child; this page only lays a pattern over the calendar.
2-2-5-5 Custody Schedule — Parent A and Parent B
From Monday 28 September 2026 · In the first 365 nights, Parent A has 183 nights and Parent B has 182 nights.
- Parent A
- Parent B
- Handover
Four weeks from Mon 28 Sep
Twelve months
September 2026
October 2026
November 2026
December 2026
January 2027
February 2027
March 2027
April 2027
May 2027
June 2027
July 2027
August 2027
To keep a PDF, print and choose "Save as PDF" as the printer. The link carries your start date, first parent and names, so the other parent sees the same calendar.
Need the rotation under everyone's week — school, work, practice and the lifts? The Family Schedule Maker draws this pattern as a band across the whole household.
Your choices are saved in the link. There is no account.
How the calendars are worked out
Each template is a fixed sequence of nights, one letter per night, repeating from the start date you pick: 2-2-3, 2-2-5-5, 3-4-4-3 and alternating weeks repeat every fourteen nights, every other weekend every fourteen, and 5-2 every seven. The sequences are printed on each page under the pattern's name. The letter says which home the child sleeps at that night, and a day on the calendar is coloured for that parent. Every other weekend always starts on a Friday and 5-2 on a Sunday, so the first weekend falls on Friday and Saturday nights; any other date you pick moves forward to the next Friday or Sunday, and the page says so.
The overnight split is the number of nights each parent has in one cycle divided by the length of the cycle, rounded to one decimal place. A handover is a night with one parent that follows a night with the other, counted round the cycle and scaled to fourteen nights so the six patterns compare on one footing. The longest stretch is the longest unbroken run of nights with one parent, which is also the longest the child spends away from the other home. The twelve-month figure counts the 365 nights from the start date one by one.
The four patterns the Family Schedule Maker also offers come from the same rule in the same code, so the two tools cannot draw one pattern two ways. The pattern names are the common names for these rotations; the page sets no expectations about which one suits a family. The calendar file writes each run of nights as an all-day event that repeats every cycle.
Every figure above was read out of the code that runs on this page. Where a number is our own judgement rather than a published one, the note says so and cites nothing. Method last checked 28 September 2026.
Why 2-2-5-5 keeps the weeknights fixed
The point of 2-2-5-5 is that the school week looks the same every week. Monday and Tuesday nights are always at one home and Wednesday and Thursday nights always at the other, so a regular Tuesday class or a Thursday late shift belongs to one parent for good. Only the weekend moves, and because it joins onto the two weeknights before or after it, each parent's time comes as one long run of five nights rather than a two and a three.
Written out from a Monday the fortnight is A A B B A A A A A B B B B B. It is the same pattern that is sometimes called 5-2-2-5, read from the Friday. Compare it with 2-2-3, which swaps the weeknights each week, or with 3-4-4-3, which also has four handovers a fortnight but a longest stretch of four nights. All six templates are compared on one page.
The rotation also runs inside the Family Schedule Maker, as a band under everyone's week, and the co-parenting calendar guide covers keeping swaps and holidays on top of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does a 2-2-5-5 custody schedule work?
Is 2-2-5-5 the same as 5-2-2-5?
Is a 2-2-5-5 schedule 50/50?
What is the difference between 2-2-5-5 and 2-2-3?
Can I put a 2-2-5-5 schedule in my phone calendar?
Related Tools
Family Schedule Maker
Make a family calendar in minutes: everyone's week on one printable page, the clashes found for you, custody rotations as fixed patterns (2-2-3, alternating weeks, 2-2-5-5, 3-4-4-3), and a calendar file each person can add to their own calendar. Free, no account.
Printable Chore Chart
A free printable chore chart: names down the side, the week across, and a chore library of 62 jobs grouped by age. Rotates weekly, prints on one page, editable, no signup.
Babysitter Cost Calculator
Calculate your annual babysitter cost and compare it to nursery and daycare. Enter hours, rate, and frequency to see the true childcare spend.
Keep the swaps and the handovers on one live calendar with Homsy
A printed rotation is the regular pattern. In Homsy the calendar is shared, so a swapped weekend or a moved handover shows up for everyone in your household the moment someone changes it, next to the chores, meals and shopping.