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If you have a child or children and are considering a divorce or separation in Michigan, custody and parenting time can be the biggest and certainly the most emotional issue.  In Michigan, parenting time is the actual schedule that dictates with which parent the child will be with on any given day or time.  Typically, there is a regular parenting time schedule and a holiday parenting time schedule.  In some cases there may be a school year schedule, a summer schedule and a holiday schedule as well.  This blog is written to generally address the question of whether the Independence Day Holiday is considered a holiday for the purposes of crafting a parenting time schedule in Michigan.  If you have questions regarding your own situation, please contact us to schedule a consultation by clicking on this link or calling (248) 508-4123.

Is the Fourth of July Considered a Holiday When Determining Custody or Parenting Time in Michigan?

Yes, most counties in Michigan, specifically Oakland and Macomb Counties consider the Fourth of July a holiday that is included in the holiday parenting time schedule.  This means that children will generally be with one parent on even years and one parent on odd years.  The holiday parenting time supersedes the regular parenting time schedule.  This means that even if you would normally have the children with you on the day of the week that the holiday occurs, if it is the other parent's year to have time with the children, then the children will be with the other parent on that day. 

For example, if you would normally have the children on Thursdays, but it is an even year (like 2024) then the children will be with the other parent even though you would normally have them with you on Thursdays.  Typically the time to exchange the children is spelled out in the divorce judgment, settlement agreement or other parenting time or custody order.  Finally, there is no make-up parenting time for holiday parenting time, if you lose a day of regular parenting time because the other parent has the child due to the holiday schedule, you do not get a make-up day of parenting time to compensate for that lost day.  The notion behind this is that over time these types of lost days will eventually even out pretty closely.. 

However, if you and the other parent agree, you have the ability to customize the schedule to fit your family and any existing holiday traditions.  For example, if one side of the family tends to have a large Fourth of July celebration every year, then it might make sense to agree that the child will go with that parent every Fourth of July and the other parent will take another holiday like Halloween or Thanksgiving Day every year.  Another frequent example is where one side of the family may celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve and the other on Christmas Day, in that case it would make sense to agree that one parent has the children with them every Christmas Eve and the other parent on Christmas Day.  You can also agree to allow make-up regular parenting time for any regular parenting time that might be lost due to the holidays.  If you have specific questions regarding these issues please do not hesitate to contact us to schedule a consultation by clicking on this link or by calling (248) 608-4123.