A holiday plan is the section of an Arizona parenting plan that allocates holidays, school breaks, birthdays, vacations, and other special occasions between the parents. It is one of the most important and most frequently disputed sections of any parenting plan because it determines where the child is on the days that matter most to both parents.

A good holiday plan is specific and built around the actual school calendar the child attends. It names each holiday by name, states which parent has the child that year on an alternating or fixed basis, and addresses tie-breaking conflicts between the holiday schedule and the regular schedule. Vague holiday provisions produce annual disputes.

Common issues include what counts as a holiday for schedule purposes, how many days surround each holiday, what happens when a holiday falls on a regularly scheduled day for the other parent, and how travel time is accounted for. Parents often have very different ideas about which occasions are important enough to warrant specific provisions.

Summer vacation, spring break, winter break, Thanksgiving, and school-year holidays should all be addressed explicitly. So should Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, each parent’s birthday, and each child’s birthday. The more specific the holiday plan the less room there is for annual conflict.