Connecting Nests

Kentucky · Alternating weekends

Alternating weekends in Kentucky

The child lives primarily with one parent and spends every other weekend with the other. In Kentucky this is written into a Parenting Plan, where time with a child is called parenting time.

Build this plan for Kentucky — free

Template for educational use — not legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney in your state. Laws change; confirm current requirements with a licensed attorney in Kentucky.

The rotation

A = one parent, B = the other. Each cell is one overnight. This rotation divides regular school-year overnights 86/14 — about 313 and 52 nights a year.
WeekMonTueWedThuFriSatSun
1 AAAABBA
2 AAAAAAA
About that numberThis figure counts the weekend rotation only. Most alternating-weekend plans also split holidays and give the other parent two to four weeks in summer, which brings the real annual share closer to 20% — the figure usually quoted for this schedule.

What Kentucky expects

Kentucky's 2018 law created a rebuttable presumption that joint custody AND equally shared parenting time are in the child's best interest — the strongest equal-time presumption in the country. Plans start at 50/50 and argue away from it.

Governing law: KRS § 403.270.

The honest trade-off

Long the default in American courts, and still the most common order — but twelve days can pass between weekends, and the weekend parent rarely sees a school night or a homework fight. Most plans soften it with a midweek dinner.

Other schedules in Kentucky