Every November, family law offices across Northeast Florida get the same message: the other parent says Thanksgiving is theirs this year, and the parenting plan does not seem to settle it. By then flights are booked, and both parents are reading the same paragraph and reaching opposite conclusions.
The fix is simple and almost nobody does it. Read the holiday section of the parenting plan now, in October, while there is still time to resolve a disagreement without a judge.
The plan is required to address holidays
Florida does not leave holidays to chance. Section 61.046 defines a parenting plan as a document that must contain a time-sharing schedule, and defines the time-sharing schedule as a timetable that specifies the time, "including overnights and holidays," that the child will spend with each parent. Section 61.13(2)(b) likewise requires an approved parenting plan to include the time-sharing arrangements specifying the time the child will spend with each parent.
So if you have a parenting plan entered in Duval, Clay, Nassau, or St. Johns County, it almost certainly has a holiday section. The question is what it says.
Holidays usually override the regular schedule
Most parenting plans contain a regular schedule (alternating weekends, a 2-2-3 rotation, week on and week off) and a separate holiday schedule. Most also state that the holiday schedule takes priority over the regular schedule when the two conflict. That means the parent with Thanksgiving in a given year has the child for the defined holiday period even if it falls during the other parent's regular week.
Check whether your plan says this expressly, and what happens afterward. Some plans resume the regular schedule where it would have been; others shift the rotation. A plan silent on resumption produces a lot of January arguments.
Start and end times are the whole fight
"Thanksgiving" is not a time. A well-drafted plan defines each holiday by a start and end point: for example, from the day school releases for the break until a stated hour on the Sunday before school resumes. A plan that just says "Thanksgiving" invites each parent to define the holiday in the way that suits them.
Read each holiday entry and answer these questions:
- When does it start? A day and an hour, or "when school releases"? If the child is not in school yet, which applies?
- When does it end? A specific hour, or "the day before school resumes"?
- Is it the day or the break? Thanksgiving Day alone and the entire Thanksgiving break are very different allocations.
- How is winter break divided? Many plans split it in halves, with the midpoint defined by a date or by counting days. Know which half you have this year and exactly when the exchange happens.
- Do Christmas Eve and Christmas Day carve out of the halves? Some plans assign them separately. Read both provisions together.
Even and odd years
Most holiday schedules rotate. One parent has Thanksgiving in even-numbered years and the other in odd-numbered years, with winter break halves alternating on the same pattern. 2026 is an even year. If your plan rotates on even and odd years, find your name next to "even" and you have your answer for this season.
Some plans instead alternate "beginning in" a stated year. Count forward from that year rather than assuming.
Travel and exchanges
The holiday section often interacts with other parts of the plan. Look for:
Travel notice. Many plans require advance notice and an itinerary for out-of-state or international travel. If you plan to take the children to see family in Georgia or fly out of JAX for the break, confirm the notice period and give the notice in writing.
Exchange location and transportation. The plan may assign who drives, where exchanges occur, and who pays when parents live far apart. Holiday exchanges on a different day than the regular schedule still follow these rules unless the plan says otherwise.
A trip is not a relocation. Section 61.13001(1)(e) excludes temporary absences for vacation, education, or health care from the definition of relocation. But a trip that conflicts with the other parent's holiday time is still a violation of the plan.
When the plan is ambiguous
If the plan genuinely does not answer the question, there are three ways forward, in order of cost.
Agree in writing. Put the arrangement in an email or text that both parents confirm, with dates and times. It does not change the court order, but it documents what both parents accepted.
Mediation. If the parents cannot agree, a mediator can often resolve a holiday dispute in a single session. A mediated agreement that both parents sign can then be submitted to the court. Mediation also gives the parents a chance to fix the ambiguity permanently rather than fighting the same paragraph every year.
Ask the court. A parent can ask the court to clarify an ambiguous provision, or to modify the parenting plan. Modification under section 61.13(3) requires a showing of a substantial and material change in circumstances and a determination that the change is in the child's best interests. Court calendars in the Fourth and Seventh Circuits do not move on a holiday timetable, so a motion filed in late November will rarely be heard before Thanksgiving. That is the practical reason to read the plan in October.
When the other parent does not follow the plan
When a parent refuses to honor the time-sharing schedule without proper cause, section 61.13(4)(c) gives the court a menu of remedies. The court must award the parent who was denied time a sufficient amount of extra time-sharing to compensate for the missed time, scheduled as expeditiously as possible, in the child's best interests, convenient for the parent who was deprived, and at the expense of the noncompliant parent. The court may also order the noncompliant parent to pay reasonable court costs and attorney's fees, attend a parenting course approved by the judicial circuit, perform community service if it will not interfere with the child's welfare, or carry the financial burden of promoting frequent and continuing contact when that parent and the child live more than 60 miles from the other parent. At the request of the parent who followed the schedule, the court may modify the parenting plan if that is in the child's best interests, and it may impose any other reasonable sanction.
None of this returns a missed Thanksgiving. Document what happened: the plan language, the written exchange where the time was refused, and the dates. Avoid self-help, such as withholding the child at the next exchange. That turns one violation into two.
The October checklist
Pull out the parenting plan this week. Find the holiday section. Identify your Thanksgiving and winter break periods for 2026, including exact start and end times, the exchange location, and any travel notice requirements. If anything is unclear, raise it with the other parent in writing now. If the plan itself is the problem, a consultation can tell you whether the answer is a written agreement, mediation, or a petition to modify, and how to write the next plan so it does not fail the same way.
Steven C. Fraser, Esq., Florida Bar No. 625825, Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator No. 37256 CFR. Jacksonville, Florida. 877-862-7188.
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