A Rhode Island child custody attorney answers important questions concerning parenting time on Christmas and Christmas Eve. Christmas morning visitation can be a very contentious matter in Providence Family Court.
Children wake up at mom’s house on Christmas morning?
Will a judge of The Rhode Island Family Court order that a child should wake up and open the Christmas presents every year on Christmas morning at the house where the child resides? NO.
Almost every judge in Rhode Island Family Court believes that the parties should alternate Christmas Evening / Christmas morning visitation. This allows both parents to have the opportunity to enjoy the children on Christmas Evening and Christmas Morning. RI Family Court judges have heard the usual arguments a thousand times before. The argument is as simple as: “The child should wake up in his or her house every year to open the presents on Christmas morning.”
MOM and dad should alternate Christmas parenting time
Judges usually believe that both parents have parental rights and should be able to enjoy the special day with both parents. If the parties cannot reach a settlement, the judge of the Providence Family Court or Kent County tribunal will normally order the following Schedule:
- The normal schedule for the Christmas Holiday is one parent will have Christmas evening until 12 or 1:00 pm. Christmas day. The other parent will have Christmas day from 12pm overnight Christmas night.
- The parties will alternate that schedule on a year to year basis. In the event that the parties reside in different states, then the parties will alternate Christmas Visitation every other year. In some instances, the non-custodial parent has the child every Christmas school vacation.
Emotional arguments typically will not work in RI Family Court
There are hundreds of these disputes before the Rhode Island Family Court in a given year and Judges must be consistent and fair and must respect the parental rights of the non-custodial parent (the parent with visitation rights). I hate the terms “visits” or “visitation” because they suggest that the non-custodial parent is a “visitor” in his / her child’s life. I prefer using “Parenting time.”
Your case is not likely different
Don’t expect that your case will be different from the thousands of cases that come before the Family Court on this issue. Don’t waste too much money in lawyers / attorney fees fighting about this issue since everyone knows the question and everyone knows the answer!
Does RI have a young child Christmas open presents doctrine?
There is an argument that is often made in Rhode Island Family Court which essentially opines that “young children” and toddlers should be able to wake up at their house and open the presents at their house. To the people who make this argument, “Their house” means the house of the parent who has physical custody / physical placement of the minor child.
This doctrine is rejected by most Family Court Judges who see the issue as a matter of fairness. These judges believe the parties should alternate the holiday. However, some judges may possibly look sympathetically at this argument since Christmas is a very special moment for 4, 5, 6 and 7 year old children. If there is an existing order regarding Christmas visitation, then the party seeking to alter the visits must show a change in circumstances to change the designated schedule.
Often the best thing to do is: negotiate
Judges will often ask the parties to attempt mediation to resolve their holiday visitation disputes. If Christmas morning is so important to you then what are you willing to give up in order to get the other side to back off? Perhaps, an extra week in the summer? More time on thanksgiving or some other concession? Rhode Island Family Court is all about negotiation which often involves making concessions.