Every Other Weekend Custody Schedule
An every other weekend custody schedule gives one parent Friday and Saturday nights every second weekend, and the other parent the remaining twelve nights of each fortnight. That is twelve nights to two, an 85.7% to 14.3% split, with two handovers every two weeks. Pick the first weekend and who has it to get your calendar, printable and as a calendar file.
Overnight split
The rule, night by night
Two nights, Friday and Saturday, every second weekend with one parent; the other twelve nights of the fortnight with the other. The rotation always starts on a Friday.
Repeats every 14 nights · AABBBBBBBBBBBB
- Handovers
- 2 every 14 nights
- Longest run at one home
- 12 with Parent A · 2 with Parent B
In the 365 nights from Friday 2 October 2026: Parent A has 312 nights and Parent B has 53 nights.
Courts and parents decide what fits the child; this page only lays a pattern over the calendar.
Every Other Weekend Custody Schedule — Parent A and Parent B
From Friday 2 October 2026 · In the first 365 nights, Parent A has 312 nights and Parent B has 53 nights.
- Parent A
- Parent B
- Handover
Four weeks from Fri 2 Oct
Twelve months
October 2026
November 2026
December 2026
January 2027
February 2027
March 2027
April 2027
May 2027
June 2027
July 2027
August 2027
September 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 rest of the week on paper too — school, work, practice and the lifts? The Family Schedule Maker puts the whole household on one printable week and finds the clashes.
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.
Every other weekend, counted night by night
Every other weekend is the pattern with the fewest nights at the second home: two in fourteen. Counted from the Friday of the first weekend the fortnight is two letters A and twelve letters B — Friday and Saturday with the weekend parent, then twelve nights with the other parent, including the whole following weekend. There are two handovers a fortnight, one on Friday and one on Sunday, and the gap between weekends is twelve nights.
It is often the base under something larger: a midweek dinner, a Sunday night, a longer holiday block. Those additions change the calendar, and some change the split, so the template draws the base rotation alone and the year view has room to mark the rest. For one weekend night a week rather than one weekend a fortnight, see 5-2; for shared weeks, the four 50/50 patterns — 2-2-3, 2-2-5-5, 3-4-4-3 and alternating weeks — are on the templates page.
The co-parenting calendar guide covers keeping the weekends, swaps and handover times somewhere both homes can see them, and the Family Schedule Maker puts the rest of the household's week — school, work, practice and the lifts — on one printable page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does an every other weekend custody schedule work?
What percentage is every other weekend?
Does every other weekend include a midweek visit?
Why does the rotation always start on a Friday?
Can I print an every other weekend calendar for the year?
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.